Careful What You Wish For
by PastPotatoes
Summary: Jim had always wished for a normal life with Sarah. But when he finally got that life not everything was as perfect as he'd hoped.
1. The Night Before The Morning After

**Note: I got the idea for this while working on another fic. I wanted to show a darker side to Jim's drinking. This fiction kinda follows a "what if" Kerrigan remained human idea but it doesn't dismiss anything that happens in HOTS and in later chapters I might use the events of HOTS. Obviously set in some crazy future where everyone isn't at war with each other anymore.**

Jim opened the door to their house and staggered inside.

"Welcome home," Sarah said as she stood from the sofa with a concerned looked on her face. She tightened the tie on her green satin dressing gown.

"Evening, darlin'," he said as he kicked his shoes off.

"Where were you?" she asked, willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

They'd played this game before. He comes home late, she knows exactly where he's been but asks anyway, he lies, she gets angry, they fight, she storms off to bed while he gets the sofa.

"Working," he lied.

She looked down to his white t-shirt and noticed his sheriff badge was missing; the big give away he'd not come straight home from work. "Robbery at the bar was there?" she asked sarcastically.

He glared at her and said nothing. He hated that she'd even bother to look for his badge when she could tell just from his thoughts exactly where he'd been. Not to mention the smell of his breath and his overall disposition.

"I made you some dinner," she said kindly. "But I threw it out when it got cold," the kindness in her voice vanished.

He hoped she was reading his thoughts now; 'probably would have tasted like crap'. He sat on the sofa and laid back.

She heard what he thought of course. She hated it when he did that. He would bait her with something he was thinking then accuse her of invading his privacy when she confronted him with it. She sat on the opposite end of the sofa and looked at him. "Do you want something to eat now?" she could make something 'crap' for him.

"I ate at the bar," he said as he picked up the book she had been reading.

"I thought you said you were working?" she asked innocently.

He glared at her again and dropped her book back down on the sofa. "Robbery at the bar and all that," he answered sarcastically. He stood and walked towards the kitchen.

Sarah wasn't sure if she should follow or not. This whole routine was getting old. The first time it had happened was a shock to them both and they had soon made up the following morning. But once became twice, and twice became a few times, and a few times became occasionally, occasionally became often, and often became almost every night. She knew Jim had a problem with alcohol when she married him but it was under control. But now the problem was back and far from under control. She decided to follow the routine through and followed him to the kitchen.

Jim was busy opening one of the small cupboards in the corner of the room. He pulled out a green bottle of whisky and set it down on the counter.

"What is that doing in our house?" she was shocked to see the bottle.

Jim ignored her and went to another cupboard to get a glass.

"Jim, answer me!" Sarah raised her voice gently to make him listen to her.

"Want one?" he asked as he reached for two glasses, hooking his fingers inside them and pulling them out.

"No," she stormed towards the bottle and picked it up. She started to unscrew the lid as she walked towards the sink with it.

"Give that back," Jim quickly grabbed her arm as he realised she was going to pour it out. He put the glasses down and pulled her towards him.

"Let go," she said seriously, resisting his strength.

He stared at her. He knew he could have easily overpowered her and gotten the bottle back, but he wasn't prepared to cross that line and get physical with her. He released his grip and let her go.

She looked away from him and emptied the bottle down the sink.

"You spoil all my fun," he said dully.

"This isn't fun, Jim," she added as the last of the whisky ran down the sink. She put the empty bottle on the counter and looked back at him.

"I only wanted a drink," he said.

"You're an alcoholic. You can't just have a drink," she showed concern in her voice.

"If I'm an alcoholic it's because you made me that way," he pulled out one of the kitchen chairs and sat at the table.

"I made you that way?" she asked bemused by his statement. "You were the one who chose to bury himself in a bottle instead of tackle and get over his feelings."

"I should have gotten over you? Left you to carry on terrorising the universe?" his voice was laced with anger.

"That wasn't me," Sarah quickly shot back. Jim used to be the one who told her that; that she wasn't herself. Now their roles had reversed; she had come to accept she wasn't really her back then and now Jim didn't believe her.

"Yeah, you're all innocent in this, darlin'," he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. "Wasn't like you killed millions."

"Are you going to keep reminding me of that every time you have one too many?" she asked with a raised voice. "Besides, it was the Queen of Blades that killed millions," she added softly.

"What about before and after that?" he asked coldly. "How many people have you killed? Bet you couldn't even remember."

"It was my job," she defended herself. "You aren't an angel either; you killed beside me."

"At least I show some type of remorse at the things I did," he took a puff of his cigarette.

She shook her head in disbelief, Jim knew her better than that and he knew she still suffered for her past.

"You continue to kill me a little bit each day," he said blankly as he put his cigarette out on the table, ignoring her gaze.

"I am killing you?" she asked sadly. If anything he was killing them both with his alcohol addiction.

Jim continued to push his cigarette against the table. "You aren't the Sarah I fell in love with."

Sarah had felt it for a while now that Jim was growing more distant from her but she hadn't realised to what extent."You don't love me?" she asked softly.

"Don't ask a question you don't want an answer to," he raised his voice slightly and looked at her.

She paused. Did she want to know?

"You can carry on pretending everything is alright, but we both know it isn't. When was the last time you even let me touch you?" he glanced down to her gown covered body.

She felt embarrassed and avoided his eyes. "I'm not ready for that yet," she said softly.

"Some perfect life for us together this is turning out to be," he said sarcastically.

"I'm trying," she said loudly.

"Not hard enough," he shouted.

"You're not even trying at all," she shouted back at him.

He slammed his first against the table and yelled, "I wish I'd never brought you back."

His outburst woke the sleeping baby in the adjacent room and it started to cry.

"I'm sure I'd be a lot happier if you had left me with the Zerg," she told Jim as she left the room to attend to their child.


	2. The Morning After The Night Before

Jim woke up on the sofa like usual, his head pounding. He checked his watch.

6.34am.

He groaned and realised Sarah would still be in the house. She usually got up at 6 and left by 7. He didn't want to have to face her disappointed look again. He knew last night was messy like most other nights and the morning after was always uncomfortable for them both. He preferred the mornings where he slept later and missed her all together.

He looked over to the coffee table and saw a picture of him and Sarah on their wedding day. He remembered that day well; she had worn a white dress and let her dreadlocks hang lose. He had worn a suit that was uncomfortable as hell. They had been happy that day. He reached out a hand and put the picture face down.

He closed his eyes and tried to listen to work out where Sarah was in the house. He heard a few clings and realised she was in the kitchen. He sat up and contemplated going to see her.

He knew she'd come into the living room before she left to check he was still breathing. At first she always came to check on him to make sure he was alright, but now it was more out of habit than genuine care. As a telepath she could always tell if he was or wasn't sleeping, he'd learnt that the hard way when he had tried to pretend he was asleep to avoid her.

He pushed himself off the sofa and onto his feet. He closed his eyes as his head recovered from the sudden movement. He motivated himself to the kitchen that Sarah was in with the promise of pain killers.

He pushed open the door gently and saw Sarah busy preparing some type of food. He saw she was dressed in a plain blue dress and her dreadlocks were pulled back off her face. He used to like that dress on her, it clung to her in all the right areas, but now it, and the memories of him touching her in it, annoyed him. He was at least impressed it hid the pregnancy weight she was istill carrying.

She turned her head as she heard the door, she gave him a neutral look that lasted no more than a second and continued cutting some fruit.

Jim saw their daughter was sat in a baby chair by the table. He looked at her for a moment before heading towards her. He placed a kiss on the baby's head and then headed for the cupboard with the headache pills.

Sarah heard Jim kiss their daughter and she wanted to yell at him. She wanted to yell at him for touching Karol when he'd shown no interest in doing so in weeks and she wanted to yell at him for not picking her up and showering her in love.

Jim pulled the box of pills from the cupboard and pulled out the small foiled covered pack from inside it. He popped out two pills and threw the box back in the cupboard. He was surprised when Sarah placed a glass of water down beside him.

He looked at her but she had already gone back to making her breakfast. He knew he should say thanks but he didn't and swallowed the two pills down with the water she'd given him.

Sarah finished preparing her breakfast of fruit and yogurt and sat down at the table. The burn mark on the wooden table from Jim's cigarette caught her eye for a minute but she ignored it.

Jim heard Sarah munching her food and found it irritating, but he was impressed she was sticking to her diet at least. Jim understood women gained weight during pregnancy but he didn't think it suited Sarah; he was used to seeing her in perfect toned shape and that suited her. He was happy with her increased bust size however, the one part of her body he was actually still attracted to. He hate to say it but he found her more attractive as the Queen of Blades. She'd lost most of her confidence since then and it showed in the way she carried herself.

Sarah tried to push Jim's thoughts away from her and stabbed at the fruit in her bowl with her spoon, pretending it was Jim's head. She didn't know if he'd looked in the mirror lately but he was hardly perfect.

Jim walked to the fridge and opened it, hoping there was some supplies for some kind of fried meat sandwich. He looked inside and was disappointed by what he saw. A few bottles of baby milk, fruit, half a lettuce, yogurt, and 3 eggs. He glared at the back of Sarah's head, annoyed she hadn't been shopping.

She wanted to tell him to go do his own shopping.

He saw the empty whisky bottle was still on the counter and realised how good a glass of what would be right now. He picked up the bottle and threw it in the bin. 'Such a waste' he thought. He took his glass of water and sat down at the table opposite Sarah. He angled his body towards Karol and stared at her.

"You can pick her up," Sarah said hoping he'd take some interest in their daughter.

He looked coldly at Sarah, "I don't need your permission to hold my daughter." He looked back at Karol and reached a hand out to her. The baby grabbed his fingers and smiled at her father.

Sarah saw Karol respond positively to Jim and felt angry. She was angry that their daughter wasn't angry at him like she was. She was angry that their daughter didn't realise her father had ignored her for weeks. She was angry that their daughter could easily smile at a little bit of attention from him. She was angry that their daughter could get attention from him.

Sarah had pushed Jim away every time he tried to touch her since she was about 7 months pregnant. It wasn't that she didn't want Jim to touch her, but she could hear his thoughts about how much he hated her larger body. Jim's thoughts about her had gotten worse since the birth to the point she wouldn't even let him see her naked. She barely remembered there even was a time where the very hint of her clevage would have sent Jim into a lustful frenzy.

"We have to go," Sarah said as she saw the little girl enjoy her father's company. She stood and picked Karol up.

Karol started to cry at being picked up and taken away from playing with her father's fingers.

Jim watched as Sarah did nothing to soothe the baby's cries. He wondered if he should step in and take the baby from her, but he realised he was as bad a parent as she was.

Sarah heard his thoughts and they hurt. She wanted to shout at him but she knew he was right. She held Karol closer to her and rubbed her shoulder. "Don't cry," she whispered to her softly as they left the room.

'Bitch' Jim thought as she left. He looked over to Sarah's half eaten breakfast and frowned at it. He figured he'd grab something on the way to work, maybe pick up a bottle or two to replace the one Sarah emptied last night. He'd have to find a new hiding place.

Sarah heard the 'bitch' comment as she walked into the living room and then she saw the turned over photo on the coffee table. She left it where it was as she left their house with Karol.

* * *

**Note: Karol was the name of Jim's mother.**


	3. The Stripper

Jim had actually planned on going straight home that night. If anything it would have annoyed Sarah that it didn't give her an excuse to be angry at him. However, he'd still managed to find himself in a bar and was a number of drinks into forgetting he even had a wife.

The bar tonight was not his usual. The lighting was darker, the smoke was thicker, and the girls would do whatever you wanted for the right amount of money. He'd heard about this place when he first became the sheriff and he knew he'd never have any reason to come here off duty, not with his beautiful new wife at home.

How things have changed.

He eyed up one of the strippers on the stage. She was tall, thin, and more importantly had long red hair that flowed past her large breasts. Jim sighed. He missed Sarah's red hair, or hair at all, the dreadlocks were a reminder of the past he didn't need.

He continued to stare at the stripper as he drank. He caught her eye and as her number finished and she came and joined him at his table.

"Enjoy the show?" she asked seductively as she pushed her barely-there-bikini covered breasts towards him.

Jim looked down at her breasts, not bothering to hide the fact he was. He smiled and looked back at her.

"It doesn't have to end," she extended her hand and stroked the arm Jim used to hold his whisky.

Jim reached into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out a wad of cash. He chucked it on the table, "what'll that get me?"

The stripper's eyes widened as she saw the wad. "Anything you want," she smiled as she stood and moved to straddle him. She sat on his lap and started to gyrate against him. She lowered her head and started to kiss him.

Jim reached behind her and started to untie the ties of her bikini top.

The stripper broke the kiss with Jim and threw her head back as Jim exposed her chest.

Jim went straight for her breasts, taking them in his hands and placing kisses on and around them.

The woman reached down to Jim's trousers and undid the fly, she reached inside and grabbed hold of his hardening member.

Jim opened his eyes and looked up at his wife to thank her for touching him. No. Not his wife. His wife wasn't there. He quickly removed his hands from the stripper's breasts and pushed her off him.

"I'm sorry," he said as he redid his fly. "Keep the money."

The stripper looked confused and slightly hurt but picked up the wad of cash anyway.

"Get a proper job," Jim said as he stood and left the bar.


	4. The Truth

**So I'm playing with the StarCraft storyline a little bit here... in this fic: the first time Sarah becomes a human is obviously at the end of Wings of Liberty. The second and final time is some possible event after Heart of the Swarm.**

_**Personal note: I would LOVE Jim and Sarah to end up together at the end of StarCraft - I have a horrible feeling they won't, but I like to believe they will! **_

**(If they do end up together, I do believe they'd have a fair number of issues to deal with... and this is where this fic is kinda heading...)**

* * *

Jim was surprised when he came home to their house and found the living room and kitchen were empty; no sign that Sarah had even been home. As he walked out of the living room his foot caught something on the floor and it hurt. He hobbled over to the kitchen, sat in one of the chairs and looked at his foot. He pulled out a small sliver of glass. He readied to throw it into the bin but noticed something already in there. He reached his hand in and pulled out a smashed photo frame. He saw it was the photo of him and Sarah that he had put face down this morning. He dropped the frame complete with its photo back into the bin and left the room.

He checked Karol's room and saw she was sleeping, he smiled at her and left. He walked into their bedroom and found Sarah hugging her knees on the floor by the bed. He knew she was crying.

"Sarah?" he asked as he approached her gently.

"Leave me alone," she said, her face buried in her knees.

He turned to leave. It wasn't that he didn't care, he just couldn't be bothered to deal with it. Plus he knew his presence would just upset her more. As he did he saw a bag on the bed, half filled with Sarah's clothes. "Going somewhere?" he asked both intrigued and angry. He stepped closer to the bag and opened it further, wondering if he'd also find Karol's things in there; he didn't.

Sarah rolled her head to face him, tears still on her cheeks.

"You're not even going to answer me?" he said angrily, picking up the bag and throwing it across the room.

Sarah put her face back between her knees and let a few more tears fall from her eyes.

"Everything I've done for you, and...," he didn't finish his sentence. He walked over to Sarah and put his arms on hers, pulling her up fiercely.

She tried to resist being pulled up at first but she didn't have the strength to match his so let him force her to her feet. She looked away from him as he brought his face close to hers.

"I killed my best friend for you," he said regretfully. "Maybe I should have let him kill you after all."

Sarah shot her eyes to Jim, surprised he had dared to say it. She searched his mind and saw he'd really thought that sometimes. She struggled against his grip but he didn't let her go. "Why don't you kill me now?" she baited him. "You said you'd be the one to kill me." Sarah wasn't sure why she was saying this, but something inside her wished for her life to end. If Jim was willing to kill her now, she wasn't sure she wanted to live.

Jim wondered for a moment if he had already killed her; if he had already killed the Sarah he fell for. Now all that was left was a shell.

"I'm the same Sarah," she said angrily. "You put your memories of me on a pedestal for four years and imagined the way our life could have been together. But when you finally got the real me and our real life together it shattered that and you've been hating me for it ever since." She paused and lowered her voice, "I think you hate me more than the Queen of Blades because I took away your hope, I took away _your_ idea of Sarah Kerrigan."

Jim released his grip on her arms and thought about what she said. Did he feel that way? "You know I loved you before you became infested. I may have had four years to think about those feelings, but it was _you_ that I loved."

She looked down, she wanted to ask him if he still loved her but she didn't dare.

"I told you I'd be the one to kill you," he said regretfully. "I was angry. Ironically the bottle helped me get past that." He tightened his grip on her shoulders again to make sure she was listening to him, "I don't want to kill you, Sarah. I would never even think about killing you." It pained him that his wife, whoever she was, would think he was capable of killing her; to think that their marriage was in such a dire straight to warrant murder.

Sarah continued to stare down and said nothing.

Jim got annoyed by her silence and released her. He walked over to the window and looked outside for a moment to try and calm his emotions but his anger and the alcohol from earlier didn't help to suppress it. He looked back at her. "I gave up everything for you," he shouted.

"And I gave up everything for you," she said back loudly. "This family life thing; it's not me. I'm more comfortable with a gun than a baby. I grew up in a confederate training facility. My strongest memory of my mother was when I killed her." She paused and took a breath. "Maybe you were right when you said I wasn't the Sarah you fell in love with," she added regretfully. She brought her hand up to wipe her face.

Jim saw her hand was wrapped in a bloodied bandage. "You do that on the photo frame?" he asked.

She looked surprised he knew.

"I found it in the bin," he replied angrily.

"A fitting place for it, don't you think?" she replied back.

"Why did you smash it?" he asked, wondering if she had had some kind of psionic rage outburst.

"You couldn't even bare to look at it so what's the point in keeping it around?" she asked. She thought about telling him that she dropped it by accident, that'd she'd been crying over it in the kitchen for the better part of an hour and she'd dropped it when she was taking it back to its place in the living room but she didn't think he'd believe her.

He closed his eyes in frustration then looked at her. "Do you know what I nearly did tonight?" he asked her, expecting her to have already read it in his thoughts.

She looked at him confused then she saw Jim in her mind and the stripper. Her jaw dropped and she looked away from him. She had to get away from his thoughts. "Stop it," she cried as she put her hands to her head. She headed for the door but Jim caught her arm and pulled her to him. She tried to resist him but this time he used his strength against her.

Jim pulled Sarah's body against his and held her strongly by her upper arms against him. Her body shook with sobs. "Nothing happened," he reassured her. He put his chin against the side of her head and spoke close to her ear, "see it all, feel it all, I didn't do it."

Sarah didn't want to see inside his mind, she only cared about getting away from it, but the intensity of his thoughts and his closeness made her see everything. Her tears started to stop and she stopped resisting Jim as she saw he'd pushed the stripper away because it wasn't her.

Jim felt her relax in his arms and he relaxed his grip on her. He rested his head against hers and moved his arms to hug her. He held her and enjoyed the feeling of her against his body.

Sarah could still feel herself crying gently but Jim's hug gave her some relief. She realised how much she missed him just being there.

"I think," he paused and took a breath, "I need to get some help."

Sarah moved her head back slightly to look him in the eye. "You'd do that?" she asked softly.

"Yes," he reassured her. "You need help, too."

She frowned.

"You do," he repeated. "I'm supposed to be that help."

"I can't cope on my own, Jim," she said honestly as she closed her eyes in a vain attempt to stop the pain.

"I know," he whispered in sympathy. "Me, too."

She opened her eyes to look at him.

"The last time I kicked this drink thing is when I got you back the first time," he smiled at the memory of holding her disinfested form in his arms on Char. He didn't need anything other than her.

She smiled too as she remembered it. "Being Mengsk's prisoner helped too, I'm sure," she had joked about that before but now it seemed less funny.

"I can be a prisoner again," he said seductively as he remembered the handcuffs he and Sarah had used in the past.

Sarah let a laugh leave her lips as she saw his thoughts.

Jim smiled. "That's the first time I've heard you laugh in a long time," he said sadly as he realised their life had been without laughter for a long time.

She looked down, ashamed she hadn't been much fun for Jim. She looked up at him and stared into his eyes, "I didn't mean to break the picture. I dropped it," she said slowly.

Jim removed one of his hands from her back and took her bandaged hand in his. He brought it up to chest level and looked at it. "Does it hurt?"

"A little," she answered.

He pulled her hand up a little higher and placed a small kiss on the bandage. He was careful not to press too hard.

"Do you," she paused as she prepared to ask the hardest question she could ever imagine asking in her life. "Do you still love me?"

He looked at her in surprise and realised why she'd doubt it based on some of the things he had told her when he was drunk. "I will always love you," he promised.

Sarah felt herself go weak at the knees. She could feel his love for her now as he said it and she was so grateful for it. "I love you, too," she said through teary eyes.

Jim moved his face towards her and took her lips in his. He couldn't remember the last time he kissed her, _really_ kissed her. He savoured the feel of her lips.

Sarah kissed him back.

Jim broke the kiss and looked lovingly at her. He reached behind her and started to open the zip on the back of her blue dress.

"No," she whined as she closed her eyes in shame. She wanted Jim to want her but she didn't want to hear his thoughts that would tell her anything but him wanting her.

"It's ok," he promised as he slid the dress down her shoulders and off her upper body. He admired her breasts in their black bra and continued to pull the dress down.

Sarah braced herself for Jim to see her body and tried to focus her mind on something else. She closed her eyes tightly.

Jim pulled the dress further down and exposed her abdomen. He let the dress drop fully to the floor and stared at her; her once perfectly toned stomach was now a little chubby and hung slightly over her panties. Jim moved his hands to touch her 'wobbly bits' and felt her flinch under his touch. "You're perfect," he whispered as he stroked her skin softly, "and you're mine."

Sarah opened her eyes slowly meeting Jim's, she could tell he wasn't lying about finding her body perfect. "I don't turn you off? You said I didn't look good with this weight."

He was ashamed he'd told her that. He was ashamed he'd thought that. He wouldn't choose to have any other body in front of him right now. "You certainly don't turn me off," he smiled at her and pulled her body towards his. "I'm sorry I made you feel anything less than beautiful." He took a moment to enjoy feeling her body. "Let me make love to you tonight," he looked into her eyes for permission.

She smiled and nodded.

Jim scooped her up in his arms and carried her the few steps to the bed. He laid her down and undressed in front of her before joining her on the bed. "Are you sure you're ready?" he asked as he held her close to him.

"Yes, Jim," she replied as she trailed a hand down his chest.

He kissed her and went straight to removing her underwear. He planted kisses down her neck and on her breasts.

She held his head to her and relaxed as he made her feel loved again.

He continued kissing down past her breasts and kissed her stomach, his hands stroked her thighs and he gently pushed them open.

Sarah took a large inhale of air as she felt Jim's mouth meet her vagina. She stroked his hair with her hand as he brought her to orgasm.

Jim gave her a few moments to recover before he returned to face her and started kissing her again.

She stroked her hands up and down his back, feeling his strong muscles beneath her fingers.

He moved his body over her and settled himself between her open legs. He aligned himself with her and pushed himself inside.

They both groaned as their bodies interlocked. They moved in harmony together and soon came as one.

Jim collapsed back on the bed and pulled his wife to him, wrapping his arms around her so she'd never leave.

Sarah rested her head on his chest and smiled as he stroked her dreadlocks.


	5. The Baby

Jim woke to find his arms and his bed empty. He pushed himself up and looked around the dark bedroom wondering where Sarah had gone. He looked down and noticed Sarah had draped a blanket over him. He looked to the bedside table and saw the clock said 2.15am.

He got out of bed and pulled on a pair of trousers as he crept about the house. He feared for a moment that Sarah might have left him despite making up just a few hours ago. But he noticed light coming from Karol's room. He pushed the door open and saw Sarah breastfeeding their child.

"Good morning," she whispered from the small sofa she sat on.

Jim smiled at her and came to sit beside her. "Good morning, darlin'," he greeted her as he snaked his arms around her and the baby and planted a kiss on Sarah's cheek. She was wearing her usual green satin dressing gown that was open enough to allow her to feed Karol.

"I didn't know you still breastfed her," Jim said as he looked down to their daughter.

"Every night," Sarah answered as she looked at him.

"I always saw the bottles in the fridge..." he added to excuse his misjudgement. He had assumed she'd stopped breastfeeding long ago. He couldn't imagine her doing this every night for a child she didn't seem to want very much.

Sarah's expression fell slightly. "I do want her," she said softly.

Jim felt bad that she heard his thoughts and looked her in the eyes.

"I'm just not very good at this being a mother thing," she said sadly. She smiled as she looked down to Karol. "I used to look after millions of Zerg yet this one child has me baffled."

Jim wasn't sure how he should respond to that but simply went with, "she's human." He put his head against Sarah's and looked at Karol, too. "You know how stubborn we can be."

"I thought it would be easier, being telepathic," she explained. "But it doesn't help. It makes it harder."

"How so?" Jim asked.

"She'll cry because she's hungry, so I try to feed her, but that doesn't stop her crying. She'll cry because she's sleepy, but she won't go to sleep when I put her down," Sarah's voice sounded tired.

"I don't think we're meant to understand how babies' minds work," Jim smiled. "That would make things far too easy."

She forced a smile and finished feeding Karol. She brought Karol upright and placed her against her shoulder to burp her.

Jim was impressed how confidently Sarah handled their baby now and he felt guilty for thinking she was a bad mother. He realised she had probably heard him many times when he thought that. "You're a good mother," he told her.

"You don't really mean that," she told him honestly. "But I'll accept that you don't think I'm a terrible mother. Do you want to hold her?" she asked, hoping Jim would take her. She couldn't remember the last time he'd held her.

Jim instantly tried to think of a reason not to. He hadn't bonded with Karol much. The instant bond he'd felt with John just wasn't there. It seemed to get worse the older she got, he wondered if it was because she looked more and more like Sarah each day; the Sarah he'd lost. The red hair the baby was growing just helped to remind him. That coupled with the fact he Karol had a rather high chance of developing telepathic powers frightened him. He didn't want to get close to another child and lose it like he'd lost John. He tried to put those thoughts out of his mind and rearranged his arms ready to take her.

Sarah dismissed Jim's thoughts and put Karol in his arms.

Jim brought Karol towards him. "She's gotten bigger," he stated as he readjusted her position his arms. He looked down at his child and took in her features. "She really is beautiful," he said as he stared at her.

Sarah smiled. "I think she needs a haircut," she mused as she looked at the baby's red hair.

"No, she doesn't," Jim added. "She's going to have beautiful long red hair like her mother."

Sarah felt a wave of sadness wash over her and thought about her own dark brown dreadlocks. She knew Jim missed her red hair although he never thought her any less attractive for not having it.

Jim realised he might have said the wrong thing there and looked at Sarah to make sure she was alright. He noticed she looked sad. "Brunettes are hot, too," he said as he gave her a peck on the lips.

Sarah smiled softly.

They both looked down to their child who was in the midst of falling asleep.

"You know, if she does develop telepathic powers, I'll do everything I can to protect her," Sarah started. "I won't let anyone take her like they took Johnny."

Jim froze as he heard her mention John's name. "We thought we were doing the right thing," he said seriously, annoyed that Sarah had implied she'd 'let' them take him away to be killed.

"I..." she started to speak but was cut off by Jim.

"Can you take her back?" Jim said uncomfortably, holding the child out to Sarah.

Sarah looked hurt but took Karol from him. She realised she'd put her foot in it although she hadn't meant to. They'd spoken about his son before but the circumstances that lead to his death were a subject neither of them enjoyed speaking about.

Jim watched as Sarah took the child from him and cradled it. He could tell from her expression she was upset and he thought maybe he'd been too hard on her; he knew she wouldn't want to slur his past when she'd probably just meant to promise she'd look after Karol.

Sarah wanted to tell him what he was thinking was right but she was fairly sure if she tried to speak she'd start crying. Her own experience of the ghost training program came back to her for a moment and she knew there was no way in hell her little girl was going to suffer anything even remotely like that.

Jim closed his eyes and for a moment. He wished he could read her thoughts like she could read his. There used to be a time he had known her so well, but now she was more or less a closed book to him. He looked at her, willing her to tell him what she was thinking.

She heard his thoughts and looked at him. She saw into his eyes and she felt calm. "I want her to be safe," she managed to say. "Safe and happy."

"She will be," he promised her.

She nodded and forced a smile.

Jim put a hand under Sarah's chin and held her face to his. "She will be," he repeated.

"I hope so," she said.

"So will her mommy and daddy," he said and leant in to kiss her softly.

Sarah closed her eyes for a moment and hoped that his words were true. She looked down at Karol. "I should put her to bed," she said as she started to get off the sofa.

Jim followed them.

Sarah put Karol down in her crib and readjusted her dressing gown so nothing was hanging out.

Jim smiled at her, "don't get too comfy in that." He looked down at her body and smiled.

She smiled back. She enjoyed being wanted by him. She stepped towards him and placed her hands on his shoulder. She started to kiss him and push her body against his.

He placed his hands on the small of her back and kissed her back. He felt his lips were dry and pulled back. "Hold that thought, I'm going to get some water first." He smiled as he pulled away from her. "Want anything?"

She shook her head. "I'll warm the bed," she promised as he headed for the door. He was almost out of the doorway when she called back to him. "Jim."

He stopped and turned to face her.

"Get rid of that bottle you hid under the sink," she added softly, scared how he might react to her mentioning it.

He nodded, realising she must have read his thoughts to realise he'd put it there. He smiled at her and made his way to the kitchen. He would empty the bottle but first he intended on rescuing the picture of their wedding from the bin.


	6. The Bottle

Jim arrived at the kitchen and went straight to the bin. He pulled out the broken photo frame carefully and placed it on the counter. He smiled as the happy memories came back to him and the hope that they would make some more happy memories together in the future.

He gently pulled the broken glass off the photo and removed it from the frame altogether. Luckily the broken glass hadn't ruined the picture. He remembered all the times he'd looked at Sarah's picture in one hand and the glass of whisky in another. The irony was not lost on him. He'd taken to the bottle because he couldn't have her, and now he had her he was still turning to the bottle. It had to stop. He put the photo down on the counter and walked towards the sink.

He opened the cupboard under the sink and got the bottle from behind some junk they'd stored there. He opened the cap and prepared to tip it down the sink. He eyed the bottle and paused for a moment. Just one last drink. Then he'd be free.

He took a glass out of the cupboard and poured himself a sizeable amount. He picked it up and was about to take a drink before the wedding photo caught his eye and he stopped. He looked at him and Sarah on their wedding day. He hadn't needed alcohol then. He didn't need it now.

He placed the glass down and stared at it, knowing he'd ruin everything if he took a drink. He had to stop this.

"I'm proud of you," Sarah said as she appeared in the doorway.

"You were spying on me?" he said slightly annoyed as he turned to face her.

"I could tell deep down you wanted a drink," she answered truthfully. "I wanted to see if you were serious about stopping."

"Most wives would trust their husbands," he stated.

"Most wives can't read their husband's minds," she replied. "I trusted you wouldn't do it," she added, "that's why I didn't stop you."

"You did stop me," he said with a slight relief in his voice. He picked up their wedding photo and showed it to her.

She smiled and walked towards him. "You looked so handsome in that suit," she said as she stopped just in front of him and took the picture in her hand.

"It was so uncomfortable," he whined.

Sarah was quite sure that was the only time she'd seen him in a suit. He looked hot, but she realised it really wasn't Jim's style to wear a suit. She smiled at the photo and put it down on the table. She leant forward and snaked her arms behind him, she rested her head against his shoulder and held him.

"This is much more comfortable," Jim said as he placed his arms around her.

"I'm happy you didn't have that drink," she said softly against his shoulder.

"Me, too," he added.

She pulled away from his embrace a little and looked over at the opened bottle. She looked back at him with a small smile, "let's get rid of that, shall we?"

He nodded.

She backed away from him but took his left hand in her right. "Do you want me to do it?" she asked, unsure who should be the one to do it.

"I'll do it," he said determinedly as he reached for the bottle. He held Sarah's hand tightly as he took one stride to the sink and emptied the liquid down the sink. He let the empty bottle fall into the sink and he reached for the glass he'd poured. He looked at it and then at Sarah. He smiled at her as he poured the contents of the glass into the sink and put the glass down on the counter.

"You did great," Sarah said softly to him.

He took a breath. "I'm going to kick this," he promised her.

"I know you will," she smiled and hugged him.

Jim let his hands rest gently on her waist and he wondered if Sarah was willing to give him a reward for throwing it away. He wondered if their relationship was stable enough right now to bring it up. He didn't want her to think he was faking wanting to stop drinking just so he could have sex with her.

Sarah giggled at his thoughts. She pulled away from him and smiled at him seductively. She put her hands to the tie on her dressing down and slowly started to untie it.

He smiled; being married to a telepath did have its benefits.

She finished opening the tie and let the gown fall open. She looked down to Jim's trousers and put her hands on the waist band.

He put his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed the gown off them to expose her breasts as she pulled down his trousers.

Sarah let the gown fall to the floor and she began to run her fingers up Jim's chest. She continued her fingers up to his face and tangled her fingers in his hair as she brought his face to hers. She took his lips in hers and kissed him passionately.

Jim felt himself begin to harden and moved his hands to Sarah's behind, stroking the soft flesh there.

"Table," she said between her assaults on his mouth.

They both stumbled towards the kitchen table and Sarah put a hand out to steady herself as she pushed herself onto it. She opened her legs wide as she sat on the edge of the table and allowed Jim to stand between them.

He ran his hands over her breasts and played with her nipples.

"Owww," she whined and broke the kiss, dropping her hands to his shoulders.

"Are you ok?" he asked concerned and he stopped touching her.

"Yeah, just," she smiled, "our daughter has a pretty mean bite."

At first Jim didn't get it, and then he understood. He looked down at her reddened nipples and realised how sore they looked. "I'm sorry," he said seriously as he realised he'd been squeezing them in his fingers. He noticed one of her nipples was even now leaking a small amount of milk; probably from where he squeezed it.

"It's ok," she said. She realised he hadn't known and this was the first time he'd properly touched her breasts since the baby was born.

"I'll be gentle," he promised. He used his thumb to wipe the milk from her breast and brought it up to his mouth. "Is it weird if I taste it?" he asked.

She shook her head.

He put it took his mouth and tasted the white liquid.

Sarah looked at him with big eyes, looking to him to give his approval.

He smiled. "If I had known how delicious this stuff was, I wouldn't have turned to whisky," he joked.

Sarah smiled and pulled his head back towards her for more kissing.

He placed his hands onto her hips and stroked the smooth skin there before moving one hand to her vagina. He stroked around her vagina without touching it and could feel her heat radiating from it. He extended his index finger and toyed with her labia.

Sarah felt a jolt of excitement as Jim played with her. She'd missed his teasing like this; the anticipation of him touching her inside.

He continued to stroke her before he let his finger push past the labia and touch her clit. He stroked it softly.

She broke the kiss and took in air as he rubbed her. She put her face against his and breathed through his stimulations. She was disappointed when she felt his finger leave her clit but didn't mind so much when she felt him put his finger into her hole.

"Oh, Jim," she breathed as he probed her.

He pulled his finger out and knew she was damp enough. He took hold of his penis and pushed the head into her.

She breathed as he entered her. She pulled her face away from his and looked him in the eyes as he pushed all the way in.

He looked back at her and moved in and out as their hands roamed each other's bodies.

"I missed us being like this," Sarah said as she enjoyed feeling Jim make love to her.

"Me, too," he answered. "We were made for each other," he placed a hand on her face.

"I never want to argue again," she beamed.

"But the makeup sex is soooo good," he said as he slammed into her harder.

She laughed a little. "Only little arguments then," she said.

"Don't say the word 'little' when I'm inside you, darlin'," he requested with a smile on his lips.

Sarah laughed again. Jim was by no means little. "Sorry," she said playfully. She brought her lips to his ear, "my big man." She kissed the skin below his ear on his neck.

Jim felt his orgasm approach and he increased his speed.

As a telepath, Sarah loved being able to read when the man she was with was close and it only helped her come with them. He pushed into her a few more times and they came together.

He held her head against his and kissed her cheek as he pulled out of her.

She rested her head against his shoulder as she allowed her breathing to return to normal.

Jim brought his hands to her face and moved it to face his. He looked at her for a moment before kissing her again.

She let him kiss her softly as she closed her eyes and felt how much he wanted her. Finally she was starting to feel beautiful in the eyes of the man she loved again.

He pulled back from her and smiled. "Sleepy?" he asked her.

"No more than usual," she said as though it was funny but it was just the truth.

He looked at her and smirked before he moved his hands off her face and onto her body, scooping her off the table and into his arms.

Sarah put her arms around his neck and let him carry her to their bedroom.


	7. The Nightmare

"No," Sarah shouted. "No, no, no," she repeated. She lashed her head from side to side and made some incoherent mumbles.

"Sarah?" Jim asked as he regained consciousness and looked at the still sleeping woman beside him. "It's ok, darlin'," he said as he realised she was having a nightmare. He put one arm around her body and used the other hand to stroke her dreadlocks.

She writhed in his arms, trying to escape whatever it was she was dreaming of.

"Wake up, darlin'," he said softly to her, "I'm here." He thought about his love for her and hoped she'd be able to hear his thoughts. It had been a while since Jim had had to do this; he was sure her nightmares had stopped a long long time ago. Whenever they happened he would hold her and think about their love and she'd snap out of it.

Sarah woke up to Jim and looked at him through the darkness of the dimly lit bedroom, her breathing heavy. She took a breath of relief and started to cry as she looked into his eyes.

He continued to stroke her dreadlocks and placed a kiss on her cheek. "I've got you," he said to sooth her.

She closed her eyes and brought her hands up to touch Jim's arm that was holding her. She pushed the images from her nightmare away the best she could, opened her eyes and started to sit up, pulling the blanket closer to her naked body.

Jim sat up with her and put both his arms around her for a hug. "It's ok," he said again to her as he moved his hands up and down her back softly. He could feel her crying gently against his body but he didn't mind. He knew he just had to wait for her to get it out of her system and then she'd stop and they could talk about it.

Sarah placed her hands on Jim's back and tried to make herself stop crying. She hated these nightmares. A few minutes later and she felt herself eventually stop crying and she pulled gently away from Jim, still holding her hands onto his sides. Her head faced him but her eyes looked away.

"You alright?" he asked her, looking into her eyes. The light from outside highlighted her damp eyes and cheeks.

"Yeah," she lied.

"Why didn't you tell me the nightmares had come back?" he asked concerned.

She forced a smile that soon dropped. "I didn't think you'd care," she said sadly.

He knew there was some truth in that. When Sarah first came back to him they were lucky if she could make it through the night with just one nightmare. He used to tell her that they were a sign that she was human; that she knew what she did was wrong and that her subconscious was trying to make sense of it all. He'd told her he'd be more worried about her if she slept easily at night. As time went by they had decreased in frequency until they had stopped. He knew she'd come to live with the atrocities she had seen and committed. But recently, when he was drunk, he had to admit he found it unsettling how 'together' she acted around him; as if she'd never done anything wrong. If she had told him then about the nightmares when he was drunk he likely would have told her she deserved them. "How long have you had them for?" he asked, feeling somewhat guilty now.

"Not long," she said softly.

"How long?" he asked again.

"They just started again recently."

"Weeks?" he wondered.

"Yeah," she said in a voice barely more than a whisper, she lowered her head in shame.

He knew she was hiding something. "Months?"

She nodded.

"Since about the time I started drinking again?" he asked, feeling guiltier.

She said nothing. She didn't want to blame him for nightmares about things _she_ had done but the timing was the same as when he started drinking.

"Every night?" he asked gently.

"Not at first," she replied.

"But now, every night?" he was worried.

She nodded again.

"More than once a night?"

"Sometimes," she answered reluctantly.

He pulled her to him and started to hug her, moving his hands up and down her back. "I'm sorry I wasn't here for you."

"I'm sorry for everything I did," she said as she pulled back from him. "I know you don't think I think about it, but I do every day."

He'd yelled at her so many times when he'd been drunk about what she'd done and used it against her in their fights. He wondered if he'd caused the nightmares to come back.

She put a hand on his cheek and gently shook her head to let him know she disagreed with his thoughts. "I did these things, not you," she said.

"But..." he tried but was stop by Sarah's finger against his lips.

"Don't blame yourself for any of this," she said softly. "Just, hold me," she smiled as she leant against him again.

He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. He would always blame himself for what happened to her. But for now he'd just hold her.


	8. The Pancake

The alarm rang throughout the room, waking Jim and Sarah up.

Jim realised they were a tangled mess of arms and legs and blanket and tendrils. He lovingly brushed a number of warm tendrils off his face and raised his head as he looked for the source of the noise.

"I've got it," Sarah called as she stretched over to her bedside table and hit the small alarm clock.

"You _have_ got it," Jim said sleepily as he ran his hands over her body to a hugging position. He closed his eyes and snuggled up to her.

"Jim, I have to go to work," she said as she placed her hands on his arms.

"Cuddle for a little while first," he said playfully, moving his head to rest on her shoulder.

"5 minutes," she said as used she one hand to stoke his arm and the other his hair. She enjoyed feeling his soft hair against her skin.

Jim didn't say anything and just enjoyed feeling the warm body of his wife beside him. It had been months since he'd even been allowed in their bed and now he was snuggling up to the love of his life.

Sarah smiled as she heard his thoughts. She was glad they'd make it back to this. They still had issues and problems but they were on the right path to figuring them out. She looked down to the love of _her_ life and smiled. They really were meant to be together.

Jim opened his eyes and looked at Sarah. "Are you happy?" he asked her softly, not sure if he should ask or not.

She thought for the right answer for a moment. "I'm," she paused. "I'm getting there," she smiled to him. She didn't ask him for she knew his answer would be 'no'. But she hoped she could change that for him in the future. "I have to get up," she said as she gently pulled away from his body. "I love you," she said as she placed a small kiss on his lips and departed their bed.

"I love you, too," he smiled as he watched her naked body walk across the room and into the bathroom. He thought about joining her in the shower but decided to make them breakfast instead.

He threw on jeans and a t-shirt like usual and headed to the kitchen. He'd barely finished making breakfast when Sarah reappeared dressed and holding Karol in her arms. He smiled as he eyed up her body; today she was wearing a green dress with short sleeves that brought out the colour of her green eyes. He noticed she'd dressed Karol in a similar green onesie. He hated that she still dressed their baby in onesies and thought she was old enough to wear proper clothes but the green did match her red hair.

"Something smells nice," Sarah said avoiding Jim's thoughts about Karol's attire. She placed Karol into the baby chair by the table.

"I made pancakes," he said as he placed their plates on the table.

She smiled as she sat down behind one of the plates. "Looks good," she said as she waited for Jim to join her.

"Orange juice?" he asked her.

"Just water, please," she said.

Jim got her a glass of water and placed it down in front of her before he sat in the other seat opposite her.

Sarah smiled at him, "thank you."

"Tell me that _after_ you taste it," he joked as he began to eat.

She looked down at the pancakes and began to cut into them. She took a small bite and enjoyed the taste.

"Good?" he asked.

"Very good," she replied as she took another bite.

There was an awkward silence between them. They had often had breakfast together since Jim's drinking became an issue and breakfast was usually the most awkward time; neither wanting to discuss the wounds that had been opened or if they did talk it was to pour salt on them. Now sitting here reminded them of those times despite the fact Jim had vowed to kick his problem.

"I was thinking of introducing solids into Karol's diet tomorrow," Sarah said to break the silence.

"Yeah?" Jim asked somewhat uninterestedly as he shoved more pancake into his mouth.

"Yeah," she replied hoping he would have taken more interest than that or offered some insight. "Do you think she's old enough?"

For a moment Jim had to remember how old she was. She must be around eight months by now though he wasn't sure.

"She was six months last week," Sarah added as she heard his thoughts, giving him a glare along with it.

Jim felt bad for a moment that he hadn't known that but continued to eat his pancakes.

"Will you help me feed her tomorrow?" she asked hoping he'd take an interest.

He quickly tried to think of an excuse to say no but couldn't. "Sure," he said and smiled at her.

"Thank you," she answered. She looked down at her plate of half eaten pancakes, "do you want the rest of these?"

"You don't like them?" he wondered. He'd made her pancakes in the past and she'd eaten them.

She smiled at him, "I don't want to blow my diet."

Jim frowned. "I know I've said things before, but you _are_ beautiful and perfect just the way you are. You don't have to..."

"Yes, I do," she interrupted him. She knew he loved her body, but he _did_ prefer her slimmer. And so did she. She passed her plate to Jim and smiled, "please."

He took her plate from her and placed it besides his own.

"We should go," she said as she stood from the table and took a step towards Karol, readying to pick her up.

"Wait," Jim said as he stood too and walked towards her position.

"Let me take you out tonight," he smiled. "We can have dinner at a nice restaurant."

"Let's stay in," she quickly added.

Jim was a bit shocked at the speed she dismissed his idea.

"I mean, we can talk better when it's just us. Plus we don't have to wait to get home to..." she placed her hand near his groin.

He smiled.

"I promise I won't make something crap," she added playfully.

Jim's expression fell when he realised she knew he wasn't a fan of her cooking. "I'm sorry I thought that," he answered, even if he did she think she didn't use enough salt.

"I'll add more salt," she tried to coax him into dinner at home. "We won't have to worry about a sitter for Karol either."

"Ok," he smiled. "But how about lunch?"

"I'll bring something to you," she suggested. "We can eat at the sheriff's office."

He pushed that idea aside. "There's a new cafe that's opened up near the bank I've been wanting to try," he added.

"It'll take so long," she whined, "and Karol won't like the noise. I'll grab us some sandwiches or something and we can eat in peace at your office."

"The cafe looks fairly quiet, if it gets too noisy we can take her outside," he promised.

"Jim, she won't like it, I know her better than you," she said stubbornly.

That stung him but he knew it was true. "Ok, well how about we go to that park near my office? We can go for a stroll afterwards."

"I don't want Karol getting too much sun," she said. "Your office will be nice. It's quiet and cool."

"What's going on? Why don't you want to be seen out with me?" he asked seriously as he took her hands in his.

"I do," she lied.

"If you can't be honest with me now, then us being together is a mistake," he let go of her hands and turned to leave the room.

Her expression fell and she panicked for a moment as he walked away from her. "I don't want _you_ to be seen out with _me_," she yelled at him.

He stopped and turned to look at her.

She looked away from his confused expression and felt embarrassed.

He waited for her to talk and realised she wasn't going to without prompting. "Sarah?"

She focused her eyes onto the floor. "They don't want me here," she said softly.

"Who doesn't want you where?" he asked gently.

"Everyone," she breathed and looked at Jim. "They don't want the former Queen of Blades in their town," she stated. "Everywhere I go I hear their thoughts," she said coldly, "and that's fine. They can hate me for what I did." She paused. "But when I'm with you, they bring you into their thoughts too."

"They don't want me here?" he asked.

"No, they do. They think you're a pretty good sheriff," she smiled. "But they don't want me to be here with you. And they dirty what we have."

He moved back towards her and held her hands. "What do they think?"

She didn't want to say it but his gaze brought it out of her. "Some people think that our marriage is a sham and you are just here to keep an eye on me. Others wonder if you were having sex with me while I was the Queen of Blades; they imagine disgusting images of..." she closed her eyes tightly in a futile attempt to block the images.

"Hey," he squeezed her hands to snap her out of it. "We know the truth," he said to her softly.

"When they see just me; they hate me. When they see us together they start to hate you. It makes it real for them, that you love me, that you aren't just keeping an eye on me," she stated.

"I don't care about what they think, and neither should you," he told her.

"I think I'd be able to manage those thoughts alright but they wonder about Karol, too. They wonder how much of her is Zerg, if she'll be the next Queen of Blades, and worst of all they wonder what kind of father you are to let a murderous bitch like me look after a baby," her voice cracked as she said the last part of that and tears welled up in her eyes. She dropped her head and let the tears come.

Jim put his arms around her and held her tightly. He was horrified people thought that and that she was able to hear it. He kissed the side of her head in a vain attempt to kiss away the pain. "You just have to ignore them," he told her. "I guess it's not so easy, but you can't let them get to you."

"It's all the time," she sobbed. "I can't keep them out." She paused, unsure if she should say the next thing. "I can't keep you out."

"Me?" he asked confused.

"I know you see them looking at us. The looks in their eyes, it makes you mad," she explained. "I know you wish you could spend time with your family in peace, like it was with Liddy."

He tensed as he heard her talk about his late wife. He hated it when she compared their lives now to the life he'd had with Liddy. Liddy and Sarah were completely different people. And the Jim Raynor all those years ago was completely different to the Jim Raynor of today. He wondered if she thought that he wished he was still with Liddy and not her. He pulled back from her slightly and took her face in his hands. "I'm not sorry I'm with you. I wouldn't change being with you for anything," he said seriously. "If you don't want to put yourself in a position to hear their thoughts I can understand that. But understand I'm proud of you and I want to show my beautiful wife off to the world."

She smiled.

"Let's try the park," he said. "If it gets too much for you we can go back to my office."

She nodded hesitantly.


	9. The Withdrawal

Sarah pushed open the door to the sheriff's office and pushed Karol's pram inside. "Jim?" she called out to the empty room. She walked further inside and looked around the small sheriff's office.

"Hey," Jim said as he appeared from the bathroom.

Sarah's face dropped as she saw him. "You look terrible," she said as she went to him.

"I just threw up a little is all," he replied.

She took his hand in hers and led him to his chair. "Sit down, I'll get you some water."

He sat and put his head against the desk.

"Here," she said as she put the water beside his head. She knelt beside him and held his left hand in both of hers so that his right was free for drinking.

He lifted his head from the desk and took a sip of the water. "Thank you," he said.

"Are you alright? Do you need anything else?" she asked, concerned for him.

He shook his head. He leant towards a piece of paper on his desk and picked it up. "Apparently I'm experiencing withdrawal symptoms," he said as he looked at the paper.

Sarah tilted her head to look at the paper. She frowned, "you got any of the other symptoms?"

"Little bit of a headache, I had shakes earlier but they've gone," he said as he threw the paper back on his desk.

She rubbed his hand gently in hers, "it'll be over soon."

He looked at her unimpressed, "you know it'll never be over." He knew he was always going to be an alcoholic and he'd spend the rest of his life fighting it.

She tried to give him a sympathetic look, "I meant the feeling-like-crap bit."

"It'll be over right now if I have a drink," he said half joking and half seriously.

"You don't mean that," she said.

"What if I do?" he pulled his hand away from her and picked up the paper in both hands, opening it up. "It says some people are successful by cutting down slowly."

She looked at the paper and frowned.

"It has all these tips," he said.

"Jim," she said softly to get his attention back to her.

He looked at her, knowing she was going to shoot down his idea. He readied himself for another fight with her and eyed her down.

She stared back at him. "You've given up," she stated. "You gave up last night when you threw that bottle away. If you have another drink now then you're saying you aren't giving up."

He tried to think of something to argue back with her but she was right. He looked at the paper, threw it back down on the table and hit the table with a fist.

Sarah jumped slightly but didn't back away. She was only glad it hadn't upset Karol again. "I'm here for you," she said as she reached for his hands again. "We both are," she said.

He looked at her and forced a smile.

She stood up and walked over to Karol's pram. She picked the baby up into her arms and smiled at her, "let's go see daddy." She brought the baby over to Jim and knelt slowly.

Jim smiled at his daughter.

She kissed Karol's cheek and continued to talk to her. "Daddy isn't feeling too well right now, but if we stay here and tell him how much we love him, he'll get better soon." She shifted her eyes to Jim and smiled.

For a moment he thought about taking his daughter into his arms but he decided against it. He felt rough and he'd probably just upset her more.

"Hold her," she said softly. "Maybe it'll help," she added.

He looked at her unconvinced.

"If you hold her in your hands then you won't want to hold a glass of whisky in them," she promised.

He hesitated. He looked away from them and took a drink of his water.

Sarah felt her heart sink a little and looked at Karol wondering for a moment why Jim didn't love her like she did.

"Give her here," he said as he put the water down.

Sarah smiled as she looked at Jim. Without saying anything she passed their child into his waiting arms.

He brought her close to his chest and held her.

"Better than a whisky?" she asked, fearing for a moment that he might still choose whisky.

He said nothing as he looked down at his child.

Sarah knew he was wondering how he'd feel about their child if he hadn't spent most of her life drunk and avoiding her. Then she sensed Karol's hunger. She stood and went towards the pram. "Do you want to give her her bottle?" Sarah asked as she rummaged through the bag under the pram.

"You aren't going to feed her?" Jim asked, wondering why she wasn't going to breastfed her.

"Not during the day," she replied. "It's too inconvenient." She pulled a bottle out from the bag.

"I heard that the mother's milk is better," he remembered reading that after his first child was born.

"It is my milk," she smiled as she sat down in front of Jim.

He looked at her and hesitated to speak. "I liked watching you feed her," he said reluctantly. "Not in a weird kinky way," he added quickly. "But it was nice, like we were a family."

"We are a family," she corrected him.

"You can do it here. I'll lock the door," he said.

Sarah smiled. The last time Jim had told her that here she ended up leaving with several aching orifices and sore wrists from the handcuffs. "You just have to hold the bottle," she encouraged him.

"I..." he was about to tell her he couldn't but he'd fed Johnny hundreds of times. He just didn't want to fed his daughter.

Sarah was starting to get annoyed at him. She had given him enough time and space and now was the time for him to stand up and take some responsibility for the child he had helped to create. "Jim, I don't want to change diapers but I have to. Please give our baby her bottle," she said in a voice mixed with frustration and kindness.

He saw her point and took the bottle. As Karol starting to feed he realised it wasn't so hard after all.


	10. The Park

Jim and Sarah had enjoyed a quiet lunch in the park under a big tree and were now relaxing as Karol slept in the pram beside them.

"I don't remember the last time we had a picnic," Jim mused as he tidied up the remains of their lunch.

"5 months ago, maybe," Sarah answered. She remembered Karol had been with them and she had been tiny then, and Jim had been sober that day.

"We should do it again," he said happily.

She nodded. "I had a nice time."

Jim took her hand and intertwined their fingers.

They stared at each other and said nothing for a while.

Jim's mind was blank aside from thinking about how much he loved her. He looked at her beautiful face and he thought about kissing her soft full lips. Before he could make a move he noticed her expression get sadder and she quickly pulled her hand away from his. He wondered if he'd thought something that had upset her, why didn't she want him thinking nice things about her and about kissing her?

Sarah avoided his eyes and busied herself putting trash into a bag.

He saw her trying to push back tears. "What did I do, darlin'?" he asked softly as he put a hand on her arm.

She looked at him and shook her head. She knew if she tried to tell him she'd cry. She went back to moving the trash around.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. He didn't know why he was apologising for but he was sorry for upsetting her.

She stopped and took a breath before looking at him. "It wasn't you," she whispered. She looked across the park at a woman who had passed them a moment ago.

"She thought something?" he asked as he noticed the woman.

Sarah nodded.

He stroked her arm to console her. "Well, I think she looks like a drug-abusing hooker and is a fine one to think crap about someone else," he joked.

Sarah smiled at his attempt to cheer her up.

"Do you want to go back?" he asked her.

She looked back to him, then at Karol to check she was settled, then back at Jim. "No," she said softly.

"Good," he said. "I don't suppose there is any more food?" he asked, he'd been hungry all day despite eating his and half of Sarah's pancakes.

"I have an apple if you want it?" she had packed it for her afternoon snack but she could feel his hunger and she'd rather he ate it.

"You don't want it?" he asked.

She shook her head as she reached for her bag. She rummaged around for the apple, as she did a small piece of paper fell out.

Jim grabbed it to stop the wind taking it and noticed the logo of their doctor's practice on the top.

Sarah quickly took the paper from him and put it back in her bag. She passed him the apple and moved her bag away.

Jim looked at her in shock and wondered why she had that and more importantly why she didn't want him to see it. "What's wrong?" he asked her.

"Nothing," she answered.

"Why did you visit the doctor?" he asked concerned.

She pushed a stray tendril behind her ear and tried to dodge the question, "I'm fine. It's nothing."

He gave her a look which told her he wasn't going to drop the subject.

She gave up and told him, "I needed to get the morning after pill."

He looked at her in confusion for a moment.

"I don't think either one of us wants me to get pregnant again," she said sadly then pushed the conversation away. "Eat your apple, they're pretty good this time of year."

He knew she was right about the pregnancy thing but he was saddened that she tried to hide it from him. He took a bite out of the apple; it was good.

Sarah heard Karol stir in her pram and let out a few cries, she raised herself up onto knees to peek into her and let Karol know she was close by. "Shhhh," she told her as she placed a hand onto Karol's blanket covered body. "Mommy's here," she promised.

Jim did feel a knot in his stomach as he watched her mother their child. He felt so guilty for the things he'd said and thought about her as a mother; she really did seem to care about their child.

Sarah ignored Jim's thoughts. She knew she was crap at being a mother but she couldn't go back and undo things. She could only make the best of a bad situation. She looked at the little girl in her pram and smiled, "be a good girl and go back to sleep." When she was confident Karol was settled she sat back down beside Jim who had just finished the apple.

He wanted to make conversation about Karol, to tell Sarah that she was doing good, but instead he just asked, "got any more apples?"

"At home," she smiled. Sarah looked over at a group of people staring at her and Jim and frowned.

Jim noticed her attention drift from him and her expression change. He looked over his shoulder and saw the people. He looked back to Sarah and took her hand. "Ignore them," he told her.

She looked at him and tried to force a smile through her sadness. "Easier said than done," she replied.

Jim shifted his body weight closer to her and put his arm around her. He kissed her cheek and whispered in her ear, "Focus on my thoughts about what I'm going to do to you tonight."

She looked at Jim and blushed. He always could picture the most graphic things about her; even from the very first moment he saw her. "I'm not sure that still fits," she said.

He looked down at her larger breasts and smiled, "I see."

She giggled. She brought her hand to his face and kissed him softly. "I'm looking forward to tonight," she said.

"Me, too," he replied as he kissed her again.

* * *

**So we've had a bunch of fluffy chapters... but there are troubles brewing beneath the surface and things are going to kick off 'tonight'...**


	11. The Graffiti

Sarah had spent the last hour preparing a meal she hoped Jim would like and an hour before that dressing up. She'd picked a strapless deep red dress that reached her knees and showed off her cleavage. Jim had brought it for her years ago although she hadn't had too many chances to wear it.

She'd set the table with candles and she'd added plenty of salt to the cooking and picked the foods she knew he liked to eat. She checked the clock again and wondered where he was. He should have been here by now.

She checked herself in the mirror once again and hoped Jim would like her look; it had been a while since she'd dressed to please him. She wasn't one to wear jewellery; her wedding ring was her only exception. But tonight she was wearing a heart-shaped necklace Jim had given her on one of her birthdays.

She checked the clock again and realised he was really late now. Her mind thought about all the worst case scenarios... had he been called to deal with a crime? Was he too sick to come home? Or was he at the bar?

She decided to have faith in him and go with the assumption he was sick at the office. She'd tried to call him but he wasn't answering. She decided to go to his office to at least hold his hand while he was sick.

She turned off the cooker and blew out the candles. She thought about taking him some of the food but she held out hope that she'd be able to get him home for them to enjoy what was left of their evening. She looked at the kitchen sadly one last time before going to Karol's room.

She picked up the baby carrier hanging on the back of the door and tied it on herself. She then placed Karol into it so they were facing each other. "Let's find daddy," she cooed as she placed a kiss on Karol's forehead and rubbed her back.

Her journey to the sheriff's office was not a pleasant one. Naturally people saw her and the usual thoughts about her came.

'_Monster trying to be human._'

'_Queen Bitch._'

'_That thing shouldn't be allowed out on the streets._'

_'Who is she trying to fool?_''

'_That poor baby._'

'_Hot but I wonder if she's hiding tentacles under that skirt too._'

'_Alien abomination._'

The nighttimes were always worst; people had been drinking and their thoughts digressed and got darker. Sarah passed one man who thought about stabbing her with a knife he had hidden in his boot then another man she caught thinking about taking her into the nearby alley and raping her. She held Karol tighter and walked faster; she didn't want to be in the position where she'd have to kill someone.

She was glad when she went beyond the busy street of bars and clubs and towards the Sheriff's office. As she approached the sheriff's office she saw it. On the walls in giant letters someone had written "Zerg Lover". She felt a knot in her stomach and slowly approached the office. Her mind raced as to what she would find inside and hoped Jim was alright.

She could hear shouting coming from inside as she got closer to the building.

"She's more human than scum like you ever will be!"

It was Jim.

Sarah's heart started to beat faster and she quickly opened the door. She was shocked to find Jim holding a man with a bloodied face by the neck against the wall.

Jim turned to face her and was shocked to see her standing there with their child.

"Look, the whole family of freaks are here now," the man said as he too looked at Sarah.

Jim moved his attention back to the man and stared at him angrily. The only thing that was stopping him from hitting the man again was the small bundle Sarah held in her arms.

"Tell me, does she make you dress up like a Hydralisk when you have sex?" the man joked.

Jim saw red and punched him. He was done with this scum. He pulled him off the wall and dragged him over to the open cell. He threw him inside forcefully and closed and locked the door.

"That thing can pretend to be human now, but we know she'll turn on us all. You're bringing doom to this town and you know it," the man shouted at Jim as he headed towards the door.

"Let's go," Jim said as he approached Sarah. He put his arm around her and guided her out of the door.

Sarah remained silent and let Jim guide her a few metres from the door to the sheriff's office.

Jim took a few breaths to calm down and looked at Sarah. "I'm sorry you had to see that," he said.

She looked down and said nothing. She realised the man in the office had been in the park today. "What happened?" she asked softly.

"You saw the new paintwork?" Jim asked referring to the "Zerg lover" graffiti across his office.

Sarah could tell that Jim was trying not to think about the things the man had said about her, about them, and about Karol, but she heard them all in her mind. She looked at Karol with sadness. "They're right, aren't they?"

Jim placed his hand on her shoulder. "You aren't Zerg anymore, darlin'," he told her.

"No, they're right that she's the spawn of a soul-less mass murdering monster and her alcohol-dependant human pet," she said as she felt tears form in her eyes.

He was annoyed at himself for not hiding that well enough away from her. "They're wrong."

"We are Zerg," she said as she continued to stare at Karol. "We both still have some Zerg mutagen in our bodies." She pulled her eyes away from Karol and looked coldly to the floor to the side. She let her hands fall away from Karol. "We shouldn't have had a baby," she felt bad for saying it but she'd felt it too many times and everything seemed to point to it.

Jim stepped forward and placed a hand onto Karol's back. "Don't say that," he said. They'd spoken about having a child long before Karol came along and, while they both knew their child would have minor Zerg mutagen in her, they both very much wanted a child together.

Sarah stared at him and shook her head. "Take her," she said frantically as she began to take Karol out of the baby carrier. "Please, Jim, take her," she quickly removed Karol and pushed her into Jim's arms.

He reluctantly took the baby and stared at Sarah in confusion.

Sarah quickly pulled off the carrier and threw it to the ground. She then turned and ran.

"Sarah!" he yelled for her to come back, causing Karol to cry. "Sarah, come back!"

She continued to run and vanished into the night.

Jim held the crying child in his arms and looked at it. He hadn't been the one to deal with her crying since she was a few weeks old; since the time he realised he didn't want this child.

* * *

**Over the course of the next few chapters I will explore and tackle some of the reasons why Jim feels the way he does about their child...**


	12. The Bar

When Sarah walked into the bar everyone looked at her. She glared back to a few of them and continued to the bar.

"You aren't welcome here," someone called to her.

She ignored it.

"Everyone is welcome here," the bartender called.

"Give me a whisky," she said as she sat at the bar.

"You sure you want to stay?" the bartender said to her quietly yet somewhat kindly despite his words.

"Give me a whisky," she said louder. She leaned towards the bartender and whispered to him, "or I'll kill all your customers."

The bartender smiled at her and placed a glass in front of her. He poured her some whisky and began to take the bottle away.

"Leave it," she demanded.

He put the bottle down on the counter and walked away.

She picked up her glass of whisky and downed it. She slammed the empty glass down on the table and breathed through her anger and frustration. She picked up the bottle and poured a bigger glass. She hated the taste of whisky and didn't care for its effects; but if it was good enough for Jim's problems it was good enough for hers. She quickly drank down the second glass.

As she poured a third glass she got a look of herself in the mirror behind the bar. Her dreadlocks had broken free during the run and her cheeks were stained with tears. Her eye makeup had smeared lightly under her eyes. She saw what the others did; a monster pretending to be human. She picked up the glass full of whisky and threw it at the mirror, screaming as she did so.

A number of people in the bar stood, prepared to fight her.

Sarah heard their thoughts and she turned on her barstool to face them. There were four men, two of whom had guns pointed at her and the other two with knives. She smirked at them.

"Boys, leave it," the bartender said.

One of the men looked at the bartender as if to tell him to stay out of it.

"For Jim's sake," the bartender said.

The men seemed reluctant at first then looked at each other and backed away. Three of the men left and the other resumed drinking with a young woman.

Sarah turned around and glared at the bartender. She could have handled four lousy drunks and not even get off her chair. "You got another glass?" she asked.

The bartender hesitated for a moment before he got her one. "Don't throw this one. But if you do, drink the whisky in it first."

She smirked at him as she took the glass.

"You waiting for him?" the bartender asked, hoping to get the gossip from her.

She stared at him and wanted to tell him to butt out but something about him made her trust him a little bit; maybe that he had been the one Jim had spoken to more than anyone over the past few months. She poured herself a drink and looked at the contents. "How many more of these does it take to make you forget your problems?"

"Pretty girl like you, loving husband, baby at home, what problems could you possibly have?" he said kindly.

She knew he knew everything and yet he was willing to treat her like just another person. It had been a long time since anyone, except Jim, had treated her like an actual person; not as the former Queen of Blades. She felt saddened as she thought about her problems then quickly drank her whisky down in one. It didn't stop her thoughts and she placed her head against the bar and started to cry again.

"Ah, sweetie, come on," the bartender said as he put his hand on her shoulder. "It can't be that bad."


	13. The Bond

Jim had tried a number of things to try and get Karol to stop crying. He'd tried bouncing her, cuddling her, rubbing her back, singing to her and in the end he discovered holding her hand simply did it.

He was now sat on the step outside the sheriff's office with Karol in his arms, looking at her. He looked at her every day but for the first time tonight he was seeing _her_.

She wasn't a replacement for Johnny. She wasn't a replacement for the redhead he'd lost of Tarsonis. She wasn't a replacement for the Queen of Blades. She was just a baby. His baby.

He smiled at her as he rubbed her tiny hand in his fingers and she smiled back at him. "None of this is your fault," he said softly to her knowing she couldn't understand him. "You didn't ask to get the parents you did."

Jim sighed as he remembered the day him and Sarah had decided to have a baby. It was a few weeks after their first wedding anniversary and Sarah had been feeling sick that morning but soon perked up in the afternoon. Jim had casually suggested that perhaps it was 'morning sickness' not realising the very real possibility it could have been. Of course they carried out a pregnancy test and it had been negative. But Sarah had admitted she wouldn't have minded if it had been positive, to which Jim also agreed. They'd always known they wanted children together and they decided that day they were going to try.

Naturally, before they begun to try they consulted with a doctor regarding the presence of Zerg mutagen in Sarah. The doctor believed a tiny amount would be passed to the baby but nothing to cause any concern. The doctor did however have concerns about the numerous changes Sarah's body gone through over the years and stated that the possibility of her conceiving would be very low.

Sarah had been devastated at the news but Jim had promised her they'd make a baby together. After a year of trying Sarah was willing to give up the hope of ever being a mother but Jim had told her they just needed to keep trying. A few months later and Sarah discovered she was pregnant. She and Jim had been over the moon at the news and everything seemed perfect at first.

The first signs of trouble between Jim and Sarah came about four months into the pregnancy. Jim was certain it was her hormones making her unbearable to live with while she claimed his overbearing protectiveness and insistence for frequent scans lead to their numerous arguments. Jim had made it really clear that at the first sign of problems with the baby, and problems to him meant any type of higher than expected Zerg mutagen, he'd want the baby to be aborted. Whereas she'd told him even if the baby looked like a mutalisk there would be no way in hell she'd let anyone abort it.

Things got worse as the pregnancy progressed; Sarah grew more distant from him as he became less physically attractive to her. They slept side by side but they didn't _sleep_ together. The only time they seemed to touch was when Sarah excitedly told him the baby was kicking and put his hand on the bump.

Nine months passed and Jim remembered holding his daughter in his hands for the first time. Sarah had gone into labour at home one night and the baby had come quickly. He delivered the child and remarked at how adorable she was. He had passed it to Sarah who had cried out of happiness as she met the daughter she feared she might not ever have.

They'd spent a number of days deciding over names and Sarah had loved the name Karol ever since Jim had suggested it. She'd heard Jim speak of his mother many times and she sounded like a good woman, it seemed right her grandchild would take her name even if she would never have the chance to meet her.

The first week after Karol's birth had gone well, but the medical tests had revealed far more of the Zerg mutagen than the doctors had predicted. They wanted to run more tests but Sarah had forbid it. Jim was torn; he understood following Sarah's own treatment why she wouldn't want her child to go through the same thing but he was also concerned by the mutagen. Jim had backed off the idea of suggesting more tests after Sarah locked herself in a room with Karol for nearly two days and refused to let him in.

Things had gone more or less smoothly since then but Jim didn't feel the same bond for Karol that he had with Johnny. Each time he held the little girl he didn't get the feeling he was looking as _his_ baby. She was cute, she was adorable, she was even beautiful but she was just another baby.

In the first few weeks of her birth, Jim was often reminded of Johnny not only in terms of her looks but also in her little mannerisms. Jim would have thought that might have brought him closer to his daughter but it only reminded him of what was waiting for Karol; the cold hard fact she would be telepathic. Although there was no way to guarantee it; Sarah's strength as a telepath and the fact that Jim's first child had developed abilities pretty much guaranteed Karol would be telepathic, too.

With no more of the Confederacy and no more of Mengsk's Dominion, the Ghost Academy was apparently a "nicer" place; not all telepaths were trained to be killers. Some trained to be councillors, law enforcers and business professionals. Sarah had made it quite clear she wasn't going to allow their daughter to be taken there but short of killing anyone who tried to make Karol go, which Sarah was quite capable of doing, there would be no way to stop them taking her.

He remembered one time in an argument Sarah had suggested the idea that he didn't want to get close to Karol because deep down he knew he'd lose her like he lost Johnny. That had caused one hell of an argument and Sarah had never suggested it since.

Of course Karol reminded him of Sarah, too. Karol had fiery red hair like her mother had had all those years ago before the Zerg took her from Tarsonis. She even had green eyes like her mother but they lacked her mother's sadness.

He started to think not loving Karol like a father made it easier when Sarah turned out to be a less than perfect mother. Every "you aren't holding her right" and "she's only crying because she wants attention" caused another argument. Jim stopped suggesting tips to her and he only grew to resent her and their child.

He felt guilty that the unhappy parents had made an unhappy baby. He resented Karol's incessant crying throughout the night; made worse by Sarah's clumsy holding of her, and he resented Sarah's inability to raise a baby (and provide him with wifely duties).

He didn't know what made him take that first drink or the second or the third. It was a mixture of things all building and something had to give. Again.

When he was drunk he didn't have to be a father or a husband. When he was drunk he didn't have to deal with the fact he had gotten the "perfect life" with Sarah he had dreamed of but it was anything but perfect. But now he was seeing things differently. The unfit mother wasn't unfit at all; she was quite capable. He realised she was raising their daughter by herself and doing a damn good job of it too. Even if she did dress her in hideous onesies.

He looked at the little girl in his arms again. He gently stoked a piece of stray red hair back on her head that the gentle wind had blown out of place. "Are you cold?" he asked softly as he made sure the blanket was wrapped round her tightly. It wasn't a particularly cold night but he didn't want her to catch a chill. He decided to take her inside but as he looked to the door of his office he realised there would be a slike ready to hurl abuse at them. "Let's get you home," he told her and placed a kiss on her forehead.

Jim called his deputy to come to the office and watch the criminal. The deputy was an almost retired old man who put in an occasional appearance at the sheriff's office. He was harmless and provided the occasional afternoon chat to kill some time. As Jim waited for him to arrive he played with his daughter and spoke to her; telling her everything from how much of a little heartbreaker she'd be when she grew up to how he met her mother. "Don't go calling men pigs," he advised her. "It'll only encourage them." He thought about it. "Unless they are thinking exactly what I thought about your mother than you go right on and slap them round the head, too."

Jim didn't have to wait long for the old man to show and take over duty for the night. The old man remarked how it had been the first crime in a long time and Jim only nodded. He quickly made his goodbyes and took Karol home. He hoped he'd find Sarah there waiting for them.

When he arrived home he found the house deserted. He wasn't sure if Sarah had fed Karol or not so he got her a bottle and gave it to her. He remembered to do the burping thing and was about to put Karol to bed before she started crying again. He smelt the reason why.

He hadn't changed a diaper in years and really wasn't sure quite sure where Sarah kept them. A quick search of the room turned them up and he attempted to change her. Twenty minutes later and he'd managed it. Changing diapers was another thing he would appreciate Sarah more for from now on.

He decided against putting Karol back into the green onesie and searched for something else. He was certain he had seen some jammies with moons on somewhere. He searched through the draws and found it and dressed her in it. "You are such a pretty girl," he told her as he picked her up and held her. He suddenly realised he didn't want to put her down into her crib and could stay up all night holding her. He went to the small sofa in the room and sat on it as he held his daughter. "I love you," he told her as he stayed there holding her.

* * *

**Gah! I'm so sorry; that turned out far more fluffy than I intended it to.**


	14. The Drunk Wife

Sarah opened the door to their house some hours later and staggered inside.

"There you are," he called to her as he ran towards her.

"There I am," she said to him playfully as she kicked her shoes off.

Jim put his hands on her face. "Where have you been? Are you alright?"

"I'm great," she said with her eyes half closed.

He smelt alcohol on her breath. "Are you drunk?" he asked her as he realised what state she was in. He used his thumbs to wipe away some of the smudged makeup from her cheeks.

"I like your bar," she said. "I understand why you went there instead of coming home to me." She took a few steps forward and would have fallen over if it wasn't for Jim catching her.

He had never seen Sarah at this level of intoxication before and hoped she was alright.

"I'm alright," she laughed. "See, you didn't even move your lips." She giggled at herself.

"Come sit down," he said to her as he pulled her gently into the living room. As they approached the sofa she pushed him down onto it and laughed.

"You sit down," she smiled. "I'll give you a lap dance. You like those, don't you?" she began straddling him and pulled down the front of her dress to expose her lacy red bra.

"You're too drunk," he told her as he pulled her dress back up to cover her breasts.

"I'm not too much," she said as she moved her lips to kiss him.

He could taste the whisky on her lips. It tasted good; but not on her. He pushed her back gently. "Let's get you to bed," he suggested.

"I like bed," she smirked at him and let him push her off his legs. She stood and put her hands out to help him up.

He took her hands and stood facing her.

"Hey," she frowned. "You mean sleep bed."

"I mean sleep bed," he told her and gently led her towards the open door.

She resisted his gentle pulling and pushed her hands forward towards his face. She cupped his face as she pushed herself forward to kiss him again.

He broke the kiss and put his hands on her wrists.

"Kiss me," she said playfully as she tried to kiss him again.

He dodged her and moved her hands away from him.

"You don't want to kiss me?" she asked. "You don't want to kiss a Zerg like me. You want me to be human," she said hazily.

"You are human," he told her.

"No, I'm a Zerg," she pulled at her dreadlocks. "And we have a little Zerg baby that you hate," she added.

"I don't hate her," he quickly shot back. "And she's not Zerg."

Sarah giggled, "she's a little Zerg... she's the Princess of Blades." She laughed at her own joke.

Jim didn't find it funny. He took her hand and tried to lead her to the bedroom.

"I'm not going to bed," she shouted like a stubborn little child.

"Quiet, you'll wake Karol," he told her.

"Good," Sarah shouted.

"Hey," he told her.

"She's always waking me up in the middle of the night, seems only fair," she pouted.

"Fair? She's six months old. And _you're_ her mother," he told her.

"And _you're_ her father and didn't even know she was six months," she shot back.

_Touché_. "Let's go to bed," he said a little more firmly to her.

"Jim," she said loudly then giggled. "Isn't it funny? When you're drunk you don't want to have sex with me. But when I'm drunk I want to have sex with you. Does that make me desperate?" she laughed at the shame of it.

He frowned.

"So many times you came home drunk and I still wished you had ripped off all my clothes and made love to me like we used to," she said hazily. "Instead you were disgusted by me."

"I wasn't disgusted by you," he told her.

"Even Mengsk knew you were disgusted by me," she added.

"Don't think about him. He knew nothing about how I felt for you. You knew I wasn't disgusted by you," he added.

"You were sometimes," she had read it from him.

"Maybe at some of the things the Queen of Blades did," he added. "But never at you. And never at your body. Even as the Queen of Blades you were as sexy as hell."

"You were disgusted at me when I rescued you from the Moros," she remembered that moment well.

That was true. He had been disgusted by her then. He'd seen the image of her human self for a moment when that door had opened and it was taken away and replaced by the Queen of Blades. "I waited for you to come. I spent four years of my life searching for a way to bring you back but you couldn't even wait a month before giving into your dark side. You chose it, you chose to go back to being her after all I did to get you back," he said desperately.

"I thought you were..." she didn't want to finish that sentence, she didn't want to relieve the moment she had heard Mengsk's lies about his death. "If I thought for a moment you were still alive I wouldn't have gone back."

He saw tears line her eyes again. "Why are you bringing this all up again now?"

She began to cry. "Because I'm always going to be the Queen of Blades. You know it and those people know it."

"You aren't," he grabbed her arms and shook her gently. "You are Sarah Raynor now and the Queen of Blades is gone forever. She is never coming back."

"She's not. She's the dark side of me," she added. "She'll always be there waiting."

He shook his head. "If that's true, then I'll always be there to bring you back." He pulled her towards him and held her as she cried.

She pulled back. "I'm going to be there to bring you back from your dark side from now on too," she told him as she looked into his eyes.

He knew she was talking about his drinking. He wiped a tear from her cheek and searched her eyes. "Why did you drink tonight?" he asked her in barely more than a whisper.

"I don't know," she closed her eyes. She opened them again slowly and looked at Jim for a long time. She could feel how much he loved her at this moment and wanted to take away her pain.

He leant in and gave her a small kiss on the cheek. "You need to sleep, darlin'," he told her.

"Make love to me," she whispered in his ear as her tears stopped.

"Tomorrow," he promised her.

She took a step back from him and pulled the front of her dress down again and exposed her strapless bra to him. She reached her hands around her back and quickly undid it, letting it fall to the floor. She placed her hands onto her dress and pushed it over her hips and onto the floor. She took her hands to her panties and slid them down. She moved towards Jim and took his hands in hers, pushing them to her breasts. "Why don't you want me?" she whispered seductively.

Jim did love the feel of her breasts in her hands and his fingers naturally cupped them. He let his thumbs find the nipples and he couldn't help but touch the hard buds before he shifted his hands to her sides. "You're not thinking straight right now," he told her.

"I want you," she said softly as she snaked her hands up his arms to his neck and pulled him closer to her for a kiss.

He allowed her to kiss him and he kissed back before he broke the kiss and stared at her. "I want you, too," he told her. "But you need to sleep," he told her.

"I don't need to sleep..." she frowned and looked pale. "I feel sick."

He realised what that meant. She was not used to alcohol and she probably hadn't eaten anything. He guided her to the bathroom and brought her gently to the floor on her knees. He directed her head towards the toilet and held her dreadlocks back.

She vomited, getting it into the toilet only because Jim had positioned her head that way.

"Get it all out," he said to her gently, one hand holding her tendrils and the other holding her around her waist.

She vomited a few more times until she relaxed back into Jim's body and resumed crying.

He reached for a nearby towel and draped it over her naked body like a blanket before he resumed hugging her.

"Why do you love me?" she asked after a few minutes. "Any other man would have left me."

He stroked her dreadlocks and looked at her. "You are strong, and smart, and caring, and lovely, and stubborn, and fiery, and perfect. I will never leave you."

She smiled and buried her head in his shirt.

He held her tighter and kissed the top of her head before carrying her to bed.

* * *

**I'm not entirely happy with how drunk!Kerrigan came out... I wanted to make her a little vulnerable but maybe I made her too desperate. Hopefully I can make up for it with hungover!Kerrigan in the next chapter.**


	15. The Hangover

Sarah woke up face down on the bed. She felt like crap. Her head pounded, her throat was sore and her stomach felt bad. She opened her eyes slowly and the light hit them, forcing her to close them again. She had little memory of what happened last night, and no idea how she'd gotten to bed, but the hand that was now rubbing her back gave her the big clue who had had a part in it. "Jim?" she croaked.

"I'm right here," he said as he continued to stroke her back. He'd dressed her in one of his shirts before putting her to bed; something old he didn't mind her getting more vomit on.

"What happened?" she asked, not moving a muscle.

"You don't remember?" he asked softly.

She remembered the bar, smashing glasses, crying, stripping, more crying, the sheriff's office. "Karol," she said quickly the pushed herself off the bed. "Where is she?" she looked at Jim who was smiling.

"She's fine. She's sleeping in her crib," he said softly.

She took a deep breath of relief and realised pushing herself off the bed was a bad idea as it only increased the pounding on her skull. "You coped with her alright?" she wondered knowing how hard it was for him to even hold their daughter.

Jim nodded and thought warmly of the little girl he'd be spending more time with in the future.

Sarah let a smile creep across her lips as she heard Jim's thoughts. "You bonded?" she asked happily.

He smiled. He would take each day as it came but he was finally starting to feel something for his daughter. "We can't say things like we shouldn't have had her or we don't want her," he told her seriously.

"I never said I didn't want her," she added but she did remember saying they shouldn't have had her. And couldn't even blame it on alcohol. She laid back down onto the bed again as her head hurt more.

"I'm serious," he said as he resumed rubbing Sarah's back. "She's going to have a hard enough time as it is with us as parents..."

"You mean with me as a parent," she interrupted.

"With us _both_ as parents," he stressed. He stopped rubbing her back and draped himself over her gently to whisper into her ear. "She's lucky to have you as a mother," he told her as he placed her hand on her shoulder. "You really are doing a good job with her."

Sarah didn't think so.

"We are going to have to protect her from a lot of the scum around here," he said regretfully.

"I know," she said sadly. She let a few moments pass before she spoke again. "I really wanted to be good at this. I'm good at things; I'm a good killer, I'm a good shooter, I'm a good knife fighter, I'm even a good driver. But I wanted to be good at _this_. I wanted to be the good wife and the good mother."

"You are," he promised her. "I'm the one who has been the bad husband and the bad father."

Sarah wasn't going to deny that.

"But I'm going to improve that," he relaxed against her. "I promise you and Karol, I'm going to be the best husband and father ever." He kissed her shoulder and hugged her tightly. "I love you both," he said.

"And we love you," she replied as she enjoyed feeling his body against her back.

Jim could have stayed in that moment for far longer than a few seconds but alas a lonely cry came from the other room. "I'll see to her," Jim said as he kissed her shoulder again and gently raised himself up.

"No, I'll go. She'll need her diaper changing," Sarah said as she realised Jim wouldn't want to do it.

"I'll do it. I did it last night," he said as he got up and left the room.

Sarah heard Karol's cries stop shortly after and she relaxed against the pillow happily. She heard Jim come back to their room a few minutes later and sit on the bed. "Sarah," he whispered. "Should I give her her breakfast?" he asked not knowing what her morning routine was. "You said you wanted to start her on solid food today."

"The bottle will have to do this morning," she said groggily. She heard Karol make a few noises in Jim's arms and she forced her eyes open to look at her daughter. She turned her head to look at Karol. "You found her moon jammies," she said happily.

"Yeah," Jim said as he adjusted a piece of out of place fabric around Karol's toes. "She's just the prettiest little thing ever."

Sarah felt warm inside as she watched him love their child. His thoughts were lovely and she was glad she could read them.

He stared at Karol unwilling to accept anything else existed in the universe. He then looked to Sarah and smiled. "You made something amazing," he promised her and received the large smile she gave him back. He was about to bend down and hug Sarah but Karol started to cry in his arms. He bounced her gently and held her hand but she didn't stop. "I'll take her to her room," he said realising Sarah needed the peace and quiet.

"She wants Mr. Bunny," Sarah said quietly.

Jim looked at Sarah with a confused look. "Who?"

"Her stuffed rabbit, he's probably in her cot or on the sofa," she told him.

"You sense that?" he wondered what it would be like to be telepathic and read the mind of a baby.

"Don't need to; we always play with Mr. Bunny before breakfast," she said softly.

Jim wondered if for a moment it wasn't Mr. Bunny that Karol was missing playing with but her mother. He wanted to offer Karol to Sarah but he could see how rough her condition was. He went in search of Mr. Bunny.

Sarah relaxed on the bed, her head hurt but her heart seemed happier at Jim's interest in Karol. She tried to sleep but even after ten minutes she could still hear Karol crying. She pushed herself off the bed and went in search of the cries. Luckily Jim's shirt was long enough to reach her thighs so she didn't bother putting on more clothes.

She pushed open the door to Karol's room and she felt warm as she saw Jim playing with Karol on the small sofa.

He looked up at Sarah and smiled frustratedly at her, "she won't stop crying." He had one arm around Karol and the other was holding Mr. Bunny.

Sarah went to them and sat down beside them. "Let me try," she said softly as reached out her hands to take her.

He put the baby into her arms and kept hold of Mr. Bunny.

"Good morning, sweetheart," she said as she rested Karol against her and rubbed her back. "There's no need to cry," she said softly. The baby began to settle and Sarah held her in one hand as she used the other to take Mr. Bunny.

Jim watched as Sarah waved Mr. Bunny in front of Karol's smiling face and told her a story about Mr. Bunny going on a journey to buy some carrots. He realised he'd missed all these moments of watching his wife interact with their child and had seen only the negative; not surprising really since when he was around (usually drunk or hungover) Sarah hadn't been in a particularly happy mood.

As Sarah finished her story she placed Mr. Bunny into Karol's arms and looked at Jim who was smiling at her. She looked away shyly knowing how much of a goof she had sounded. She could hear Jim's thoughts thinking how amazing she was with Karol and she turned back to look at him.

"Shall I take her?" Jim asked as he realised she probably wanted to go back to bed.

"Can you feed her by yourself?" she asked as she prepared to pass Karol to him.

"Yeah," he said as he put his arms out and took the baby.

She gave Karol a kiss on the head and gave Jim one on the cheek. She smiled at them and headed to the door. Before she went through she turned and looked at her family. "If you need any help..."

"We'll be fine," he told her. "But you should remove the rest of last night's makeup," he said kindly to her with a hint of humour in his voice.

She wondered how horrid she must have looked and put a hand to her face. She could feel her eyes were puffier than usual and she could only imagine how much of her makeup had smeared across her face.

"You cried most of it away, but there is a little left," he smiled. "Oh, Sarah," he called to her before she went. "I didn't get the chance to tell you how beautiful you looked last night," he smiled at her. "And how beautiful you still look right now," he added.

She wanted to call him a liar but she could tell he meant it. She smiled back at him and disappeared through the door.


	16. The Breakfast in Bed

Sarah was pinned against the wall by the Queen of Blades' wings; tearing her skin and piercing deep into her body. She could feel blood running down her but she only cared about the crying child in the Queen of Blades' arms.

"Karol!" Sarah screamed but the child didn't look at her.

"It's alright. Mommy's here," the Queen of Blades cooed at the baby and stroked a long black talon down Karol's cheek.

"No!" Sarah screamed again before waking up. The light in the bedroom was bright. She guessed it must be the early afternoon. She sat up and wiped her damp forehead. Her head felt better and she pushed herself up off the bed. She heard nothing coming from the house and wondered where her husband and child were. She got up and went to investigate.

Her search of the house didn't take long at all. She walked into Karol's room first and found them playing with some toy blocks on the floor.

"Hey," she said as she pushed the door open slowly. She was happy to see smiles on their faces.

"Hey," he greeted back. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," she replied. She lowered herself to the floor and held Karol's hands. "How are my two favouritest people in the universe?" she asked as she looked at Karol but expected Jim to answer.

"We are just great," Jim told her. He wasn't sure favouritest was a real word but he let it pass.

Sarah noticed Jim had dressed Karol in a pink dress. It had been a gift from the old man at the sheriff's office and Sarah had never put Karol in it but it did suit her. "You look so beautiful today," Sarah cooed as she readjusted the skirt on the dress. "How many feeds has she had today?" Sarah asked as she looked at Jim

"Two," Jim told her. "She threw up a little after the last one but I think I let her have too much."

"How many sleeps?" she wondered.

"She had about an hour after breakfast and I was about to put her down again in a little while," he told her confidently. He remembered the pattern vaguely from when Johnny was a baby.

Sarah smiled to herself that Jim was finally being a father to their child. She only wished he had imparted some of his knowledge onto her before now instead of her learning it through books. "Thank you for taking care of her," she said warmly.

"It wasn't a problem at all," he said softly as he looked happily at Karol. "You must be hungry," he said turning his attention to Sarah.

She nodded.

"Go back to bed. I'll bring you some food. Any requests?" he asked.

"That you join me in bed to eat it," she smiled playfully.

"I think I can manage that," he smiled. "I'll put Karol down for her nap and fix you something up."

"Thank you," she said. She looked at Karol again and couldn't help picking her up. "You have been such a good little girl for your daddy today," she cooed. "I've missed you this morning." She placed a kiss on her cheek and hugged her closely. "I love you so much," she told her and then looked towards Jim who was smiling at them both.

"You were born to be a mother," he complimented Sarah.

She shook her head in denial and pulled Karol away from her ready to give to Jim. "Sleep well, sweetheart," she told her.

Jim took their child and held her against him.

Sarah heard Jim baby talk to Karol as she returned to their bedroom. She felt calm and happy despite still feeling the effects of last night's drinking. She knew she had made a fool of herself at the bar and the town, probably the whole galaxy, hated her still. But inside their home everything was falling back into place and their life was starting to become what they'd wished for. She climbed back into bed and waited for him.

"Wake up, darlin'," Jim said in her ear.

Sarah opened her eyes and realised she'd fallen asleep waiting for him to come to bed. "How long was I asleep for?" she asked sleepily.

"Maybe twenty minutes?" he said. "I made us some food." He looked over to the dressing table where he'd placed the food tray. He got off the bed and headed for it.

"Thank you," Sarah said happily as her stomach was begging to be fed. She sat up in the bed and waited for Jim to bring the food to her.

"I made us some bacon, toast, hash browns and some boiled eggs with runny middles just like you like them," he told her as he put the tray down on the bed.

"I love you," she smiled at him before grabbing some bacon and sandwiching it between two slices of bread.

"Do you want some juice? Orange or Apple?" he asked.

"Orange, please," she answered with a mouth full of sandwich.

"Back in a minute," he told as he went to get them some drinks. He poured them both a glass of orange juice and brought it to the bedroom. He handed a glass to her and placed the other on the bedside table his side.

"Thank you," she said before drinking almost half the glass down.

Jim picked up some toast and made himself a bacon sandwich, too. "Taste good?" he asked her before tucking in.

"Delicious," she smiled. "I have the best husband in the galaxy."

"I told you I was going to be," he added.

She smiled. She let him finish eating for a moment before turning to him. "How are you coping?" she asked softly. "With the drink thing?"

He frowned. "It's not easy. But I'm getting there." He smiled at her.

"I'm sorry about last night," she said softly. "I should have been here for you."

He shook his head. "I'm just surprised you didn't break earlier." He reached his hand out to her and smiled. "Besides, I had Karol to help me out."

Sarah smiled. "I'm so happy you are letting her into your heart."

"Me, too," he added. "I feel like I lost those last six months of getting to know her," he said regretfully. "You were right about me being scared to love her."

"You can't be scared of love," she told him. "If you had been scared to love me I'd still be a slave to the Zerg."

"I know," he said softly. He paused for a moment. "I'm glad I brought you back. I told you I wasn't but I am. And I'm going to spend every single second of every single day proving that I'm glad you're back."

"Jim," Sarah said confidently. "You don't have to do that. You just have to love me and Karol. It's all we want."

He smiled.

Sarah smiled back. "Well, that and runny eggs," she laughed as she picked up one of the eggs. She bit into it and was surprised at how runny it was; spilling half the egg down her shirt. "Damn," she said as she surveyed the damage.

Jim laughed at her. "A mouth that big you think you'd be able to handle an egg," he joked affectionately. He knew people described her as having a smile too wide for her face but he loved it and it did come in handy when she went down on him.

She slapped his arm playfully. She pushed herself forward on the bed and prepared to get up.

"Give me the shirt," he told her. "I'll rinse it."

She smiled at him and carefully pulled the shirt over her head.

He took the shirt and eyed her now naked breasts. He was disappointed when she brought the bed cover over them. "Spoil sport," he told her before he disappeared into the bathroom.

She smiled and resumed eating.

Jim finished rinsing the shirt and hung it up to dry before returning to the bed.

"What happened to that slike from last night?" Sarah asked reluctantly.

"My deputy released him with a warning," Jim told her regretfully. "But he does have to clean the front of the sheriff's office."

"I see," Sarah said plainly.

"Don't let people like him get to you," he told her. "Let them think what they like. They don't know us. If he saw you how I see you then he'd be chasing you around like a little love sick puppy instead," he joked.

"A little love sick puppy?" she laughed.

"Woof woof," he said as he stared lovingly at her.

She giggled at him and began nibbling on another egg.

"I'd like to promise you that they'd get better with time, but we've lived here for three years..." he said sadly.

"I guess I just have to keep proving to them every day that I'm not who they think I am," she said confidently.

Jim smiled. "You showed the Protoss you can change. What are a bunch of slikes in a small town?" he told her.

She nodded and relaxed against her pillow.

"You done?" he wondered as he saw she'd stopped eating.

She nodded. "Thank you, it was good." She pushed herself back down into bed and turned over onto her front.

He picked up the tray and placed it on the floor beside the bed. He then snuggled closer to Sarah and put his arms around her. He placed a kiss on her shoulder before closing his eyes and savouring the warmth of her body against his. He wondered if she was up to making love and let his fingers stroke down under the cover and reach for her breast.

She didn't need to be a mind reader to know what Jim was after now as she felt his fingers on her. She smiled into the pillow as he traced around her breast and gently stroked her flesh.

He saw her smile although she tried to hide it and he gently pushed the blanket down as far as her waist. "It's so hot in this room," he said innocently as though he was referring to the weather but he really meant the naked woman beside him and she knew it.

"Maybe you should try stripping down a little if you are hot," Sarah said innocently.

He sat up and pulled his t-shirt off over his head. He unbuckled his belt and opened his jeans before pulling them off down his legs. He'd neglected to wear underpants since he was merely staying home. He draped his naked body over Sarah's and kissed her shoulder.

"Hmmm, it is hot in here," she mused as she felt his naked body press against her.

"Did I ever tell you how gorgeous you are?" he said as he kissed her neck. He let his hands sneak up her arms and he held her hands that were hidden under the pillow.

She enjoyed his kisses and said nothing as she intertwined her fingers with his.

He moved his kisses from her neck back to her shoulder and trailed them down her back. He let his fingers leave hers and he stroked them down her arms then to her back. He kissed his way down to the small of her back and stroked the skin where her tattoo was. He remembered toying with her saying she would be too scared to get one. Like the former Queen of Blades would ever be scared of anything. She'd settled on a purple butterfly on her lower back just above her butt on the left. Jim thought it was sexy; not too big and still really feminine.

She smiled at the memory of the tattoo. It had been about four years ago one night and she had fallen asleep in Jim's arms so he'd drawn a butterfly on her arm out of boredom. Since then she had toyed with the idea getting a tattoo since she loved Jim's tattooed body and caved into getting one of her own where no one but her and Jim would see.

Jim continued his kisses down to her buttocks and gently cupped them with his hands as he kissed each cheek.

Sarah giggled at the feel of his beard against her bum.

He stopped kissing her and held her butt cheeks in his hands, squeezing and stroking them gently. He left one of his hands fall between them and he pushed his fingers towards her vagina.

Sarah gently lifted herself off the bed to allow him access. She pushed her lower self off the bed and angled her behind into the air, resting her upper body against her forearms.

Jim now had full access to play with her clit while he used the other hand to massage her buttock.

She groaned as he rubbed her clit and pushed her vagina against him harder.

He felt himself getting harder as he focused on stimulating his wife. He stopped rubbing her clit and brought his fingers towards her entrance to make sure she was wet enough for him; she was. He reached for his discarded jeans and pulled out a condom from one of the pockets. He opened the wrapper and placed it on himself. He aligned his penis against her entrance and held her hips firmly as he slipped himself slowly into her waiting vagina.

She groaned and let him take the lead. She felt him fully penetrate her and she sighed happily.

Jim slowly started to move in and out of her. He reached his fingers around her waist and began to rub her clit again. "Does that feel good, darlin'?" he asked making sure she was alright. He hadn't taken her in doggy style in a very long time.

"Feels great," she moaned and panted as Jim took her from behind. She looked behind her at Jim and locked eyes with him.

He continued his thrusts and rubs and felt himself edge towards his orgasm. Soon Jim came and increased his speed on Sarah's clit encouraging her to come faster; which she did. He pulled out of her and laid back down on the bed catching his breath.

"That was great," Sarah said panting as she laid herself onto his chest and listened to his heart beat.

He held her against him and kissed her forehead.


	17. This Town

They'd spent most of the afternoon lying in each other's arms. Sarah had vanished twice to feed Karol, even bringing her to Jim for a short playtime before putting her back down for another nap.

"I think you've spent more time in bed than Karol today," Jim joked as he stroked her dreadlocks.

"My Mr. Bunny is so cuddly," she said as she snuggled against him.

He laughed. He let his humour settle for a moment. "Do you want to stay here?" he asked seriously. "In this town I mean?"

She didn't turn to face him and took a moment to think. "No," she answered truthfully.

Jim expected her to say that. He took a breath. He wasn't sure he wanted to open up old wounds but he found himself asking anyway. "When you were going to leave the other night," he started carefully. "Where were you going to go?" He felt her freeze in his arms.

A few moments passed and she raised her head off his chest and turned to face him. "Nowhere special," she answered softly.

"Were you going to take Karol?" he wondered.

She nodded sadly.

He frowned. Although he didn't know how he would have felt if she said had said 'no'.

"Things were bad, Jim," she defended herself. "Really bad."

He listened to her words.

"You were drunk every night," she said in a voice barely louder than a whisper. "Everything I tried to do and say just made things worse. I know I'm to blame for a lot of those problems but I really was trying." She looked away from him and stroked a finger on his chest to sooth him slightly as she thought about which words to use next. "I'd been thinking about leaving for a while. Even just for one night to show you how upset you made me; to make you realise that you were pushing us away. But I couldn't bring myself to leave you."

He let a small smile creep across his lips as he heard that last sentence but the smile vanished when he saw tears line her eyes.

"You thought I was a bitch," she said sadly.

"I didn't mean it..." he interrupted but she silenced him with a look and headshake.

"And you had put our wedding photo face down..." she trailed off.

"I put it down because I felt ashamed. Not because I regretted marrying you or didn't want to look at your beautiful face," he told her. "I didn't want you staring at me; at the mess I had become." He smiled for her.

"I thought you didn't want to be reminded of marrying me," she admitted. "I thought about it all that day at work and when I got home I put Karol straight to bed and thought about out life."

He looked deeply into her eyes and saw her pain.

"I told myself that I'd wait for you to come home and tell you everything. Give you an ultimatum... we'd talk and sort everything out and it would be perfect," she smiled for a moment before she resumed her sad expression. "But you didn't come home and I knew I had to leave you," she looked at the cut on her hand. "I was crying and shaking so much I dropped our wedding picture and it smashed. She laughed at herself as she looked at him again. "I thought it was a metaphor for our life so I threw it away," she admitted reluctantly.

Jim wanted nothing more than to hug her right now but he realised she needed to talk - they both did. There would be time for all the cuddles she needed later.

"I ran to our bedroom and starting throwing clothes in a bag from the closet. I don't even remember thinking about what I was packing. I was about to start on Karol's things then I suddenly thought about where we were going to go." She stopped talking and looked to the finger she again started stroking his chest with.

Jim held her tighter to encourage her as he realised she didn't want to say the rest of her story. "Where were you going to go?" he asked her softly.

She laughed out of embarrassment and looked at him. "I realised we had nowhere to go," she told him shamefully. "Anyone in this town who would even consider letting me inside their houses are loyal to you. If I left the town everyone would still know who I was and would send me away. I have no friends and no family to turn to." She felt tears roll down her cheeks. She was about to wipe them away but she felt Jim's thumbs do that for her.

"That is not true," he promised her. "I'm your friend and your family." He cupped her face in his hands.

"I felt really alone," she confessed.

"I never want you to feel like that again," he stated. "I promise I'll be here for you. Karol, too. Promise you'll be here for us, too."

"I promise," she smiled. She pushed herself forward gently and kissed him on the lips.

He kissed her back and let his hands fall to her shoulders. He held her tightly and didn't want to let go.

She smiled shyly as she pulled away from him. "You asked me if I wanted to stay in this town," she brought the conversation back to his earlier question.

He nodded to show he remembered.

"If we go somewhere else, we'll still have to face the same problems," she explained. "But most of the people here know and respect you. Even if some of them do think I pushed you to be an alcoholic."

"I'll prove to them you stopped me drinking," he added.

"Plus this town has a lot of memories," she smiled. "The field you proposed in. The chapel we got married in. The little cabin by the lake we consummated our wedding in."

"Technically we consummated that _outside_ the cabin, beside the lake," he corrected her.

She laughed. "Plus we made Karol in this very room and I gave birth to her here," she added.

"_Probably_ made Karol in this very room," he added.

"Well we definitely made her in this town," she laughed.

He smiled. "I missed hearing your laugh."

She blushed. She knew Jim thought she had a lovely genuine hearty laugh and was one of things he had enjoyed the most about their first ever date.

He brought a hand to her face and stroked it. "You are too pretty to ever make cry again," he promised her.

She laughed again and then stopped as she heard Karol cry from the other room. "Speaking of crying, our little angel is demanding some attention." She pushed herself up from the bed and picked up a white shirt from the nearby chair she had worn on the last two visits to Karol.

"She's too pretty to cry, too," he added as he watched Sarah button the shirt up.

"Try telling her that," Sarah laughed. "After playtime, shall we try feeding her?" she asked excitedly. "I mean with solid food?"

Jim nodded happily.

She smiled as she pulled on a pair of jeans and left the room.


	18. The Attack of the Bunnies

Sarah placed Karol into the baby chair and secured her in it.

"Did you get her a bib?" Jim asked realising it was about to be a messy experience for Karol and she was still dressed in her pink dress.

"Yes," Sarah answered. "It's in the third cupboard from the right," she told Jim.

He found it and pulled it out. He laughed at it. "Bunnies?" he asked as he noticed the bib was covered in tiny rabbits.

"She likes them," she told him. "And look what I got," she said excitedly as she opened another cupboard and brought out a little white plastic plate and matching spoon. "It has a bunny on it," she held it up so Jim could see.

He grinned. "That's cute," he said as he placed the bib on Karol.

Karol fussed a little at having something put around her neck but Jim distracted her taking her little hands in his fingers.

"Are you alright?" she asked, noticing Jim was looking a little pale and heard in this thoughts he wasn't feeling too well.

"Yeah, just a bout of nausea," he explained. "Withdrawal, still. It comes and goes. I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" she asked. "It's not the over whelming cuteness of the bunnies making you want to vomit is it?" she joked.

He smiled.

"Because it was either bunnies or Zerglings..." she laughed to try and take his mind off being sick.

"I'm glad you went with the bunnies," he answered truthfully.

"Are you really ok? You don't look well," she added.

"I'll be ok in a bit," he answered her with a smile. He would be pleased when all the physical side affects to quitting the drink would go.

She looked at him sympathetically and cast him a smile before getting back to the matter at hand. "Ok, so the book says we should start her with baby cereal mixed with three parts breast milk," she said. Her voice lacking confidence.

"Sounds right," Jim confirmed.

She grabbed the cereal and one of her bottles Jim had used earlier. She sat down in the chair beside Karol and began to put the mixture into the small bowl.

Jim sat opposite her on the other side of Karol. "Are you nervous?" he asked Sarah as he realised her hand was shaking a little.

"Yeah," she admitted. "It's a big deal. A new little milestone for her," she smiled. "Next is teeth and talking." She looked at Karol. "You're growing up, aren't you?" she cooed.

Jim smiled at them.

"Does this look right?" Sarah asked as she stared at the runny mixture in the bowl. "It looks too runny."

"It's supposed to," he added. "She doesn't have any teeth to chew yet," he smiled.

She shot him a playful glare. "But it's supposed to be a little solid... that's why it's called 'solid food'," she defended herself.

"You mix less milk as she gets used to it," he added. "She needs to get used to feeding with a spoon instead of a bottle at first."

She nodded to show she understood. "Ok," she breathed. "I think we're ready." She put a little of the mixture onto the spoon and leant forward towards Karol. "Open wide," she said playfully.

Karol stared at the spoon and tried to reach for it.

"Nuu-uh," Sarah told her as she brought the spoon away. She used her free hand to take the hand Karol had reached with. She moved in with the spoon again and narrowly dodged Karol's other hand.

Jim laughed. "Do you have a spare spoon?" he asked. "Johnny used to do the same thing so we gave him a spoon to play with while we fed him."

"Yeah, in that cupboard," she said as she looked at it.

Jim got up and grabbed the spare spoon. He returned to Karol and gave her the spoon. He laughed as she immediately brought it to her mouth out of curiosity.

Sarah thought this was the prime time to try again with the spoon with food.

Karol stared at the food as it came towards her and she pulled the empty spoon out of her mouth.

Sarah put the spoon gently against her lip and hoped she'd open. She didn't wait long before Karol gave her the opportunity and slipped the spoon in. "There's a good girl," she cooed. She tilted the spoon to get the mixture off the spoon into her mouth.

Karol didn't like the feeling and let out a small whine. The milk mixture spilled out down her chin and into the bib. Luckily the bib had an upturned plastic lip on the bottom to catch runny food.

"Oh, no, sweetie," Sarah said as she noticed Karol was getting upset. She used her thumb to wipe off some of the mixture from Karol's chin and was thankful that action had helped settle her. "Let's try again," she said optimistically. She put some more of the mixture on the spoon and again placed it into Karol's mouth. But again Karol fussed. Sarah looked at Jim. "What am I doing wrong?"

"Nothing," he told her. "She's just not used to it yet. Let me try," he said as he reached out a hand to take the spoon.

Sarah wanted to continue but she gave the spoon to Jim. She realised she had to share their little girl now and she should let Jim have as many opportunities as possible to interact with her. Even if Sarah had been looking forward to doing this ever since she'd bought the bunny bowl and spoon set two months ago.

Jim put some of the mixture onto the bowl and brought it to Karol. "Be a good girl for daddy and open up wide," he told her.

Karol ignored him and instead waved the spoon she had in the air.

"Should we be doing that 'here comes the little mutalisk into the leviathan' thing?" she realised what she said and quickly added, "or little dropship into the battlecruiser?"

Jim looked at her then back to Karol. "Here comes the little mutalisk into the leviathan," he cooed. He figured he'd get her into the habit early of eating up the Zerg instead of Terrans. He managed to get the spoon into her mouth but again the liquid ran down her chin and she fussed louder this time.

"She's really not liking it," Sarah surmised. "Maybe we should try this another time. We've tried to do too much with her today - she's getting upset," she stated.

"Let's try for a little longer," he told her. "She has to get used to this sooner or later." His voice sounded strained and Sarah wondered if his withdrawal from alcohol was making him grouchier.

"She's getting hungry and frustrated," Sarah told him. "She's been away from me a lot today, someone else has fed, changed and played with her, and she's wearing different clothes. It's too much for her."

Jim prepared another spoonful. "We're here now and at least some of the food is going in. Let's keep going." He put the spoon into Karol's mouth and again it spilled out.

Whereas Karol had fussed the last three times she now began to cry.

Sarah raised herself up and reached out her hands for Karol.

"No, leave her," Jim said. "Just a few more tries and I'll bet she'll stop crying.

Sarah ignored Jim's advice. "Awww, baby girl," she cooed as she removed the bib and picked her up. "It's ok," she said softly as she sat back down and rubbed Karol's back.

Jim stared at Sarah. "You are going to spoil her if you pick her up every time she cries," he told her.

"She needs me," she said as she tried to soothe Karol. "Don't you, sweetie?" she said softly to Karol.

"No, she doesn't. She's only crying because it's new and she doesn't know it's food," he reassured her.

"No, she's crying because she doesn't like strangers poking things in her face," Sarah stated. She regretted saying it the moment she did as felt Jim get angry at her.

"I'm a stranger?" he asked offended.

"She doesn't know you," she said truthfully, trying to calm him down. "Karol doesn't understand who you are." She continued to rub Karol's back hoping she'd settle. She now realised she was dealing with two upset members of her family.

"Is that _your _assumption or did you read her mind?" he asked her seriously.

"It doesn't work like that," she told him. "She doesn't have language so it's not like reading an adult's mind. It's just feelings."

"So you feel I'm a stranger?" he asked getting angrier.

"No," she answered. "She doesn't trust you like she trusts me," she added.

"You feel that she doesn't trust me?" he asked, seriously not amused.

"It's hard to explain," she stated.

"Try me," he told her sternly.

Sarah continued to try and soothe Karol but doing so with Jim on her case wasn't helping. "Jim, stop it," she begged. "Let me settle her and we'll talk."

"Why don't you let me try?" he asked angrily.

She looked at him as if to warn him off. She didn't want an angry man trying to settle Karol even if she was his father. "I'm happy you are showing an interest in her now. I really am. But please let me settle her."

He stared at her. "Well, we lasted what one whole day without an argument," Jim surmised as he left the room.

She watched him leave the room and sighed. She unbuttoned her shirt and allowed Karol to feed.


	19. The Plan

Sarah had just finished putting Karol down for the night and was drawn to the bathroom as she heard Jim throwing up. "Are you alright?" she asked from the doorway as she looked at him sympathetically.

He looked at her and smiled. "Yeah," he told her and laughed at himself.

"Do you need anything?" she asked warmly.

He shook his head. "I'm sorry," he called to her. "I shouldn't have argued with you when you were trying to settle Karol."

She smiled. "Forget it," she told him. "You were trying to help." She walked into the bathroom and sat down beside him. "I'm sorry I pushed your help away."

"I do want what's best for her," he promised.

"I know," she took his hand in hers. "I appreciate it. And I do want your advice and input into how we raise her. But I can't watch her be upset. I'm always going to want to be there to wipe her tears away."

He smiled at her. "You are lovely," he surmised. "But sometimes crying is good for babies. She has to learn that she doesn't have to cry just to get attention from you."

"But I want her to know if she needs me I'm always going to come running," she added. "I learnt that from you," she smiled. "You always came when I needed you," she said happily and squeezed his hand tightly. "Even when I didn't deserve it. I am going to be here for you, too."

He smiled at her. "When did you become so warm and caring?" he asked happily. "There was a time where 'cold' could have easily been used to describe one of your more prominent personality traits."

"I guess being a mother did that to me," she smiled.

He looked into her eyes. "Nah, it was always there," he told her. "The confederacy and Mengsk tried to cover it up but it was always there in your eyes." He used his free hand to stroke her face. "I really want to kiss you right now," he added softly but refrained from doing so as he could still taste his vomit in his mouth.

"Do you feel better after throwing up?" she asked as she heard it in his mind.

He nodded. "I'm not going to be running around any time soon, but I don't want to be sick again at least," he said.

She was glad to hear it. "Jim," she said softly. "Earlier I think I was a little jealous. Not jealous so much as... I'm not used to anyone else showing an interest in her and I know I have to share her with you, but..." she stopped herself.

"I can understand you wanting her all to yourself," he added. "She's your little girl. You are always going to feel that way. But let me help you," he told her. "We made a pretty good team earlier," he smiled.

She forced a smile back. "I want to do things my way and I got upset when you wanted to do them your way," she explained. She looked down for a moment as she debated saying the next part then looked back at him. "You've done this before and I haven't. So when you tell me to do something different I feel like a bad mother."

"There are many different ways to raise babies," he told her. "I didn't mean to make you feel like a bad mother; especially not today."

"I thought earlier, when you kept offering to try, that I wasn't doing it right," she admitted. "When I was feeding her... and trying to settle her..." she added sadly.

"You were right. She doesn't know me," he began. "And I don't really know her. All babies are different and the way we did things with Johnny might not work with Karol." He paused and stared at her. "I'm not criticising you. You are an amazing mother and I hope you realise that," he said.

She smiled and waited for a moment. "Let's get off this cold bathroom floor," she said as she began to stand and pulled him with her.

He stood in front of her and let his hands rest on her hips. "We didn't get to have our romantic night-in last night," he smiled at her.

She forced a smile to show she regretted it.

"I put the food into the fridge so maybe it'll still be ok. You can wear something pretty. I'll shower. Maybe trim my beard a little. It'll be great," he suggested.

She smiled. "Jim Raynor? Shower and a trim? Now that is an occasion," she laughed.

"I said maybe a trim," he replied.

She smiled. "You look perfect as you are," she almost went to kiss him and then remembered about the throwing up. "But maybe you'd like to try a jacket at least?" she subtly suggested.

"That could be arranged," he said lovingly to her.

* * *

**The next chapter will feature Jim Raynor in clothes that aren't a t-shirt and jeans (woah, out-of-characterness!)**


	20. The Date

She had let Jim enter their bedroom first and he'd quickly grabbed something out of the wardrobe and taken it to the living room before changing into it (after showering of course). He had playfully warned her against reading his mind else he wouldn't wear it. As curious as she was; she was willing to wait to see him in it.

She entered the bedroom after him and spent a good deal of time deciding what to wear. She even used the time to put fresh sheets onto the bed as she realised they'd likely end the evening here and put a few candles on the bedside table ready for lighting.

She tried on a number of dresses and discarded most of them because they didn't suit her new fuller figure. She only had 15lbs to reach her old weight but it seemed that those 15lbs had settled around her stomach, hips and thankfully her breasts.

As she looked at her wardrobe she caught sight of a plain black dress. She pulled it out and wondered if it would fit. She tried it on and decided it was the one. It was very formal and reached to the floor, although it had a long slit all the way up one of the legs. She used her telekinesis to fasten the zip at the back instead of asking Jim. She would surprise him with her outfit too.

She walked to the dresser and saw the necklace that Jim had put there from the previous night. She picked it up and put it on. She pulled some of her tendrils off her face and fastened them behind her head. Jim liked her 'hair' that way. She put on her usual dark eye makeup and subtle pink lipstick before leaving the bedroom.

She decided to check in on Karol before she went to enjoy her evening with Jim. She peeked into the crib and was met with Karol's green eyes. "What are you doing awake?" she asked softly.

Karol reached her arms up for her mother with a smile.

Sarah couldn't resist her and she picked her up. "Aren't you sleepy after the day you've had?" she asked.

Karol laughed as she reached for some of Sarah's still lose tendrils.

"Does mommy look pretty?" Sarah asked as she let Karol grab them.

Karol laughed as she tried to put them in her mouth.

"Don't eat mommy's head," she said softly as she used a hand to pull them away gently.

Karol fussed a little at being denied the tendrils but didn't mind when her hand was taken by her mother's.

"You're a lucky little girl," Sarah told her. "Your daddy is the most wonderful man in the galaxy and he loves you so much. Yes he does," she spoke lovingly. "Now daddy is making mommy her dinner so you have to be a good little girl and go to sleep, ok?"

Karol naturally said nothing.

"Ok, mommy is going to put you down now," she said and brought her closer for a big kiss. "Goodnight, sweetie, love you" she said as she placed her into the crib. Sarah waved goodbye and was happy when Karol put her hand up in an attempted wave too. She left and closed the door gently behind her.

Sarah continued on to the kitchen and heard Jim inside. She pushed the door open without going in yet. "Can I see you yet?" she asked through the gap in the door.

"Wait, two seconds," he said as he hurried to pull the jacket on. "Ready," he called to her.

She pushed open the door and smiled at the man in front of her. His hair and beard were freshly trimmed and he looked clean and fresh. He was dressed in a grey suit, complete with a grey waistcoat, and white shirt with a black tie. "I don't know who you are, but I don't care as long as you don't tell my husband," she said lustfully to him. She laughed. "You look amazing," she said as she walked forward to hug him.

"You don't look too bad yourself," he said as he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. As she pulled back he kissed her cheek. "You do look beautiful," he told her just to make sure she knew it.

"And you look so handsome," she said happily. "I didn't know you had this hidden away in your wardrobe," she wondered when he would have even worn it.

"I wasn't always a renegade outlaw," he added with a smile.

She placed her hands on his tie and readjusted its position slightly. It was the first time she'd ever had to do that for him and she smiled; allowing her hands to stay against his chest.

"Except, when I was an outlaw, there was a time for wearing flashy suits," he laughed.

She smiled. "Well, I think you look like a proper gentleman."

"Good, because you are looking like a proper lady," he put his hands on hers and looked into her eyes.

She leant forward and kissed his lips softly. "Do you need any help with the cooking?" she asked as she looked around the kitchen. She pulled her hands away from his and readied herself to help.

"Nope, you did all the hardwork yesterday," he added. "You just sit down and I'll do the rest." He went to one of the chairs and pulled it out for her.

She smiled shyly and sat on the chair as he pushed it in for her.

"May I interest the lady in a glass of our finest orange juice? Perhaps some apple juice?" he asked trying, but failing miserable, to use a posh accent.

"Just some water, please," she answered.

"Water it is," he acknowledged and got them both glasses. He put the water on the table and began to serve out the dinner.

As she waited for him to return she started to feel nervous. The last time she felt this nervous with him was probably their first date at Sam's Place some ten years ago.

He placed the food down in front of them and sat opposite her. "Are you alright?" he asked as he surveyed her.

"Yeah," she said. "I was just thinking about our first date," she told him.

He smiled. "I remember that."

"The food looks nice," she said to change the subject as she looked at her plate. Although it wasn't really a compliment to him since he had just reheated and served it. She didn't want to bring up their first date too much as she realised she was far from the pretty little redhead with the perfect body she had been then.

"Better than those fried somethings at Sam's Place?" he joked with her to bring her mind back to their first date.

"Yes, Jim," she said sternly. "Better than those fried somethings."

He laughed as she hadn't liked them quite as much as he had. "Oh," he said as he quickly realised he hadn't dimmed the lights. He got up and lowered the lights to make the candles on the table the primary source of light in the room.

She waited for him to sit again before she began to cut into her food. "I hope I added enough salt for you," she told him. They really had different tastes when it came to food.

He took a bite and looked at her with a smile as he chewed. "Perfect," he told her and he noticed a look of relief on her face.

The two enjoyed the rest of the evening discussing things they hadn't talked about in months, even years, and reminiscing about the past. They remained talking long after the meal was done and neither one of them was prepared to end the good conversation.

"Who had any idea that all those years ago on Antiga Prime, the man I called a pig, would be the man I ended up spending the rest of my life with," she mused.

"You might not have known that. But I did," he said arrogantly. "I knew I wanted you the moment I saw you."

"I know," she rolled her eyes and laughed. A few moments passed and she looked at him seriously. "If you had known what a hassle it would have been, would you still have wanted me?"

"Are you kidding?" he asked. "Even if it had been ten times the hassle, I still would have wanted you."

She smiled.

"How about you? If you had known what a hassle it would be, would you still have gotten close to me?" he asked.

"Well, if I knew what a hassle it would have been I wouldn't have gone to Tarsonis," she laughed but meant it. "But, yes, I still would have let you into my heart."

He smiled at her and happily let her words sink in.

"I am sorry I didn't listen to you about Tarsonis," she told him. "I can't help but think how things might have been different."

"Don't think about that type of stuff," he told her.

"How can I not?" she quickly added. "I wouldn't have been infested, millions wouldn't have died at my hands, you wouldn't have turned to drinking, we could have been together sooner and the life we led would have been easier."

"And Amon could have destroyed the entire universe," he added adamantly.

"You don't know that," she said softly.

"And you don't know that things would have turned out any different if you didn't go to Tarsonis," he added. "The Zerg already had their sights on you - it would have only been a matter of time before they got an opportunity to get you."

She frowned.

"Look," he said. "We can't change any of that. And I don't think I'd even want to. Look at what we've got now. Sure things aren't perfect, but I can accept all the crap life has thrown this way and accept that we're still together and we have a beautiful little girl."

She smiled.

"We both just have to be thankful for what we've got," he told her. "I know that sounds a bit hypocritical considering it was just a few days ago I was burying myself in the drink. But we do have a pretty good life and we have to make the most of it."

"I'm glad you decided to come back from the drink," she said happily.

"Me, too," he reached out his hand and held hers. "I love you," he promised her.

"I love you, too," she replied. She stared into his eyes and smiled. "Do you want to go to our bedroom?" she asked softly.

He smiled back at her and nodded. He stood and held out his hand to her.

She took it and let him lead her to their room.

The short walk to their bedroom seemed to take a long time as Jim slowly pulled his wife along by the hand. He opened the door and smiled at her to go in.

She smiled at him warmly and went inside. She took two steps in before turning around and kissing him.

He had barely closed the door when he felt Sarah's lips against his. He put his hands on her hips and pushed their bodies together.

She snaked her hands up his chest and pushed the jacket from his shoulders. She broke the kiss for a moment and looked into his eyes. "It seems such a shame to ruin your look," she said happily.

He pulled his hands away from her for a moment to let the jacket fall to the floor before he placed them on her hips again. "I could be persuaded to dress like this again," he added.

"Good," she said as she brought her hands to his waistcoat and began to unbutton it. "Because a girl could get used to this." She began to kiss him again and allowed her fingers to continue down his waistcoat.

He let her to push his waistcoat off and again he let it fall to the floor without breaking their kiss. He put his hands under her arms and sneaked them around behind her. He found the top of the zipper of her dress and rested his hands there. He didn't want to quickly strip her, instead he wanted to take it slowly and savour every feeling she had to offer and that he had to give.

She rested her hands on his upper arms as she read his mind and let him kiss her slowly. She felt his tongue sneak into her mouth and she welcomed it gladly.

He broke their kiss and he smiled at her. He put a hand on the zipper and pulled it all the way down. He pushed her dress down and revealed a black lace teddy that covered her breasts, stomach and crotch. He let the dress fall to the floor and stroked his fingers to her waist. "You are so beautiful," he told her as he stared down at her.

She said nothing and smiled seductively at him. She put her hands on his tie and pulled him closer to her with it. She kissed him passionately before pulling away and giggling. "I have always wanted to do that."

"You should have said, I'd have worn a tie more often," he laughed.

"Well, I don't think we need this right now," she said as she tried to untie it. She laughed as she failed to untie it.

"Smooth," he teased her.

"Shut up," she whined. "I've never had to untie or even tie one of these before." She managed to get it untied and dropped it to the floor.

"Good job," he said genuinely.

She unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it out of his trousers. She looked at his perfectly manly chest and took in every inch of flesh she could see. She slid her hands around his back under the shirt and pulled him towards her for another kiss.

He let one hand fall to her bottom and gently rubbed the exposed flesh there.

She broke the kiss and slowly stroked her hands down his chest towards the top of his trousers. She undid his belt and opened the catch on his trousers. She unzipped him and saw he'd neglected to wear underpants. She glanced up at him and smiled before looking back down at his trousers and pushed them off his hips towards the floor. She smiled at him and put her hands on his shoulders as she pulled his shirt off them.

He could feel himself begin to harden as she looked at him lustfully. He removed his hands and let the shirt drop to the floor. It wasn't the only thing that went to the floor as Sarah slowly lowered herself to her knees. A few moments later he felt her hand take his penis and he felt her mouth on his head.

He placed a hand on the back of her head and gently held her head to him. He smiled deeply as he felt her mouth engulf him. He shuddered as her tongue ran across his head.

Sarah smiled to herself as she felt Jim's joy. She worked him slowly and used all her energy to pleasure him the way she knew he liked to be pleasured.

"That's it, darlin'," he told her as he felt his orgasm build. A few moments later and he came in her mouth. He groaned her name as he did and stroked her dreadlocks.

She swallowed his offering and removed him from her mouth. She raised up to his height again and put her arms around his neck.

He put his hands on the small of her back and kissed her. He could taste himself in her mouth still; not his favourite taste - but she had swallowed it so the least he could do was return her kisses. He continued to kiss her as he moved her towards the bed and prompted her to sit. He pushed her gently back on the bed and laid on top of her. He kissed her softly and let his lips trail down her neck. He took a moment to kiss her neck and heard a few moans escape from her mouth. He continued down and reached her breasts. He put his hands on her shoulders and toyed with the straps of her teddy as he kissed around her lace covered breasts.

"Jim," she groaned as if to encourage him.

Jim didn't need any encouragement and pulled the straps of her teddy from her shoulders. He pulled the garment down but didn't uncover her breasts. He saw her nipples were trying to poke out through the lace and he took one in his mouth and the other in his fingers.

She moaned again and let her hands stroke Jim's back as he toyed with her breasts. She trailed one hand down his arm towards the hand that was playing with her breast and guided his hand to the flesh of her breast.

Jim realised why she had moved his hand as he tasted milk through the lace. He had forgotten about her sore lactating nipples.

"It's ok," she told him before he had the chance to apologise.

He raised his head and looked at her. "I didn't hurt you, did I?" he asked out of concern.

"No," she answered with a smile, hoping he would continue his touching.

He looked into her eyes and saw her passion. He smiled and lowered his face to kiss the valley between her breasts while his hands lowered her teddy to expose her breasts. He kissed the skin around her nipples and resisted taking her nubs into his mouth. He pushed the teddy further down her body to expose her stomach and his face followed too as he toyed with her navel with his tongue.

She giggled as his tongue dipped into her navel.

He kissed his way towards her lower region and put his hands on the rest of the teddy. As Sarah raised her hips he pulled the teddy down and off her buttocks and down her thighs. He pulled the material off her legs and threw it off the bed. He smiled down at Sarah's naked body and he put his hands on her hips before sinking his head towards her vagina.

She closed her eyes and groaned as she felt Jim's mouth on her pussy. She relaxed and gently opened her legs wider for him.

He slowly began to lick at her slit, teasing her entrance and clit in turn. He used his fingers to enter her while he tongued her clit.

She soon came and moaned as he worked her through to the very end of her orgasm.

He removed his fingers and tongue, savouring her taste. He pushed himself up and returned to face her. He smiled at her and received a smile back before he began kissing her.

She kissed him back and wiggled beneath him so she was on her side. In one quick movement she rolled him over onto his back and put her body on top of his. She broke the kiss and laughed at him seductively.

He smiled back as he realised she wanted to be on top.

She went in to kiss him again and rubbed her hands across his body. She sat up and straddled him, looking down at her prize. She let her fingers explore his chest, a map of battles lost and won, and a string of inky memories. His body would be an acquired taste to most, but to Sarah it was interesting and she wouldn't change a thing about it.

He watched his naked wife explore his chest with her eyes and wondered what she was thinking. He wished at moments like these he could read her mind but he really didn't need to as he noticed she had a small smile on her lips and her eyes were hazy with passion.

She moved her hands down and pushed herself up slightly to find his hardening member. She smiled as she held the rigid shaft and she lowered herself onto him slowly. She waited a moment for them both to adjust.

He placed his hands on her thighs and smiled to let him know he was ready whenever she was.

She smiled back and put her hands on his waist as she slowly began to push herself up and forward and down and back in fluid movements.

Jim moved his eyes between hers, her jiggling breasts, and her vagina now full of him. He wished he had more eyes so he could take her all in but despite how much he loved her naked body he still liked her eyes the best.

Sarah smiled as she heard his thoughts and looked back at his gorgeous brown eyes as she rode him. Despite how hard things had been with Karol's conception, pregnancy and childhood, Sarah still wished to have another child one day. She hoped it would have Jim's eyes. Of course telling Jim she wanted another child would wait.

"What are you thinking about?" Jim asked as he saw her deep in thought.

"How beautiful your eyes are too," she didn't tell him the whole truth.

He smiled happily.

Sarah increased her speed as she felt their orgasms approach. She held onto his waist tighter and groaned loudly.

Jim moaned beneath her and held her thighs steady. Moments later his orgasm came, shortly followed by Sarah's.

She laid on his chest panting. "I think that's still my favourite position," she declared.

He put his arms around her tightly. "I don't think I can really tell until we've tried them all again," he added innocently.

Sarah raised her head and looked at him with narrowed eyes and a smirk.

"I don't need to be a telepath to know you are thinking the same thing," he said in a mock arrogant tone.

She laughed and placed her head back on his chest.

* * *

**Sooooo... not much is happening right now. But over the next few chapters Sarah is going to undergo a drastic makeover... the red is coming back!**


	21. The Red

"She's sleeping," Sarah said quietly as she carefully closed the door behind her after checking on their daughter.

"Good. Where were we?" Jim asked from his seated position in bed as he pulled the duvet up to entice her back to bed.

She smiled and headed straight for the bed. She was wearing Jim's shirt and decided it was far too comfortable to take off. She slid in between his legs and rested her head against his chest.

He wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin against her head. He held her for some time and said nothing; simply enjoying the feeling of her in his arms. "How do you feel?" he asked her after a few minutes.

"Great," she answered happily.

He put his left hand on hers and stretched it out before them, holding the back of her hand facing them. He stroked his thumb across her wedding ring and smiled. "I'm so glad I married you."

She smiled. "Me, too."

"I'm sorry I took so long to ask," he added.

"You had to be sure you could trust me. That I wasn't going to go running back off to the Zerg." She understood his reasons for waiting and didn't blame him.

"Do you..." he paused. "Do you want to renew our vows?" he asked softly.

"What? You mean like get married again?" she asked confused.

"Yeah."

She thought for a moment. "Why?" She could tell in his head he was thinking about having a big ceremony.

"Why?" he repeated out of shock. "I want to stand in front of everyone and tell them how much I love you. We've had a rough patch and I want to prove to you we're over it."

She smiled. "You already proved it to me." She brought their hands back towards her and placed his arm back around her. She held his arms tightly and snuggled down into his embrace.

"You don't want to renew our vows?" he asked a little disappointed she wasn't keen on the idea.

"We've both been true to our vows so I don't see that we need to," She smiled. "You promised to love me, honour me and keep me, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, for as long as we both shall live. We just had one of those 'worse' bits."

He smiled. "You're right." He held her tightly and kissed the top of her head.

She let out a small yawn.

"Sleepy?" he laughed.

"Yeah," she said as she snuggled down further in his arms.

"Hey, stop a minute," he told her suddenly as he looked at her head. "Don't move."

She froze at his request. "What's up?" she asked.

"Something in your dreadlocks," he said as he looked into the mass of tendrils. He unwrapped his arms from her and he used a hand to push a few of them aside and noticed a bright spot of red at the base of one of them. "Did you catch one of these?" he asked as he saw crusted blood on her scalp.

"I don't remember doing so," she answered trying to remember if she felt any pain.

He gently put his finger against the spot and stroked it. That confirmed it. It was hair. Actual hair.

She flinched at the unfamiliar sensation.

He smiled. "Can you feel that?" he asked as he stroked the small patch of hair.

"What is it?" she asked as the feeling seemed so usual yet somewhat familiar.

"One of the tendrils has pulled away from your head a little bit. It looks there is hair growing under it or inside it or something," he told her optimistically.

"What?" she asked confused.

"Let's go to the bathroom so I can get a better look and clean off the blood around it," he told her.

She scooted forward on the bed and jumped off, both anxious and excited to find out if she had hair. She waited for Jim to pull on a pair of jeans and led him towards the bathroom.

"Sit down," he said to her softly as he turned on the light.

She sat on the edge of the bath and waited for him.

He opened the medicine cabinet and pulled out a disinfectant wipe. "This might sting a little," he told her as he placed it against her scalp.

She flinched at the initial contact but it didn't hurt too much.

"You alright?" he asked as he gently wiped the wipe around the base of the tendril.

"Yeah," she answered. "Do I really have hair growing there?" she asked hopefully.

He'd cleaned enough of the blood away to tell there was defiantly hair running from her head into the tendril. "It's defiantly hair. As red as Karol's."

Sarah smiled. "Do you think my hair's growing back?" there was excitement in her voice.

"I dunno," he said as to not get her hopes up. "I can only see a bit at the base where the tendril has pulled away. We should take you to the doctor tomorrow," he told her.

"Can you pull the tendril away more and get a better look?" she asked.

"I don't want to hurt you," he said softly. "It can wait."

"Jim," she said as she turned her head to look at him. "You know if you don't do it, I'll try to do it myself. I know you'll be a lot gentler than I will," she added.

"I am not going to start ripping your skin off," he told her adamantly. "And neither are you." He came to sit beside her on the bath and took her hands in his. "Perhaps this is your hair growing back; but you shouldn't try pulling at it. You don't want to rip it out, do you?"

She forced a smile to show she knew he was right.

"We'll go to the doctor tomorrow and he'll be able to tell us more, ok?"

"Ok," she pouted.

He smiled at her and pushed a stray tendril off her face lovingly. "You know you are beautiful regardless of what's on your head," he told her sweetly.

She didn't look at him and kept her eyes down. "It's a constant reminder every day though," she said regretfully.

He sighed. "Taking away your dreadlocks won't take away your memories," he told her truthfully.

"I know," she forced a smile. "But maybe it'll help all those people out there see me as a Terran and not as some ugly Zerg."

He put his finger beneath her chin and raised her face to his. "You are the most beautiful Terran in this universe," he promised her.

She smiled at him.

He used his other hand to stroke some of her tendrils and smiled. "I know you hate these," he said softly. "But considering you were mutated into an alien and back again - twice - you got away pretty lightly," he laughed.

She forced a laugh, too.

He brought a tendril to his lips and kissed it gently. "I'll be sad to see these go actually," he said lovingly. "Most of our memories involve you looking the way you do now. I don't see Zerg when I look at these... when I look at _you_. I just see the woman I love who happens to have brown dreadlocks."

She smiled.

"Let's go to sleep," he suggested.

"Yeah," she agreed.

He stood up and held his hand out to her.

She took it and followed him to their bed.


	22. The Suffering

Sarah was walking down the main street of the town happily. Her long red hair was blowing gently in the wind and it matched that of the child in her arms. The people she passed smiled at her and greeted her warmly.

A woman in her late fifties approached Sarah and shot her a warm smile. "You have such a beautiful child."

Sarah thanked the woman.

"What's her name?" the woman asked as she smiled at the child.

"Karol," Sarah answered politely.

"Such a pretty name for a pretty little girl," the woman remarked. "Can I hold her?" the woman said friendly and reached out her arms.

Sarah didn't know why but she gave the child to the woman. She didn't want to do it but she felt compelled to do it.

"I used to have a little girl just like this," the woman explained as she looked at Karol. "But you killed her." The woman's tone turned darker and her expression turned meaner.

Sarah opened her mouth to defend herself but nothing came out. She put her hands forward to take Karol back but her fingers had turned into long black talons.

"You don't deserve a child after you took away so many sons and daughters from their parents," the woman shouted.

The people who had so friendly greeted Sarah suddenly appeared around her with hateful expressions aimed at her. They were shouting things at her... names... telling her she had killed their children.

Sarah looked back to the old woman but she had gone and taken Karol with her. She began shouting but her voice was drowned out by the people around her. Her tears streamed down her face and she looked around frantically for Karol.

Suddenly she felt arms lovingly reach around her body from behind her and heard a voice softly whispering her name. She woke up and discovered Jim's arms around her tightly.

"Wake up, darlin'. It's just a dream," he told her lovingly.

"Jim?" she called his name to make sure he was really there.

"I'm here," he said.

She reached out with her mind and was mildly comforted to feel him so close as well as sensing Karol in the next room over sleeping peacefully. She pushed herself up and the images of the nightmare came back. She pulled her knees towards her chest and buried her face into them.

"Talk to me, darlin'," Jim begged as he wrapped his arms around her again.

She said nothing and continued to cry.

He held her tight and let his hands gently rub her skin. "I wish you'd talk to me about these dreams," he said softly.

She raised her head slightly and forced her teary eyes open to look at him.

"You don't have to struggle with this alone, let me help," he stroked her face with his hand.

She looked down for a moment and then back to him. "I don't deserve you and Karol after everything I've done." she said faintly. "I don't deserve to be happy."

"That's not true," he told her adamantly. "You saved this whole damn galaxy from Amon - you deserve as much love and happiness as you can get."

She looked away from him and shook her head. "I didn't do it for the whole galaxy though, did I?"

He said nothing, unsure of how to answer that.

"I should get up," she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes and pushed herself off the bed.

"Wait," Jim called to her but she didn't listen and left the room. He wondered what he could say to her to help her get through these dreams but he wasn't sure there was anything. He laid back down onto the bed and decided to give her some time alone.

When Jim eventually made it up he walked down to the kitchen and found Sarah sat at the table wearing his shirt albeit open slightly to breastfeed Karol. "Hey," he said softly from the doorway.

"Hey," she said quietly as she looked at him.

"How are you feeling?" he asked concerned for her.

"I'm ok," she replied honestly. "The dreams always seem so much worse when I first wake up," she forced a smile.

He nodded. "They are _just_ dreams," he tried to reassure her.

"I know," she added. "I think that makes them worse in some ways. _I_ think that I don't deserve you and Karol. _I_ think that I deserve to suffer."

"I wish you'd realise that you've been through enough already," he smiled at her.

She smiled back at him then looked down to her daughter. "I must have done something right to get you both." She looked up at Jim as she remembered, "Oh, the doctor opens at nine this morning."

"You want to go straight away?" he asked enthusiastically.

She nodded. She couldn't wait to find out what was going on with her tendrils.

"Ok. I'm ready whenever you are," he told her despite only wearing a pair of jeans.

"I'll finish feeding her then we can get ready. One of the books suggested breastfeeding her for a little bit then trying a little bit of solid food," she said.

"Ok," he didn't want to argue with her today and was willing to go with her lead on it. "Do you want me to mix up her baby cereal?" he asked kindly.

"Yes, please," she answered without breaking eye contact with Karol. "I am sure going to miss breastfeeding her."

"You two look so sweet together," Jim surveyed as he stopped making Karol's food to look at them.

"I feel so connected with her," she explained. "Like nothing else matters in the whole entire universe." She looked up at Jim with a smile, "Except, daddy."

Jim smiled back at her.

Sarah pulled Karol away from her and placed her against her shoulder for burping.

Karol whined at being denied her usual fill of her mother's milk.

"It's ok, baby," Sarah told her quietly as she rubbed her back. "You are going to have some big girl food now."

"Ready when you girls are," Jim called as he finished mixing the runny mixture in the rabbit bowl.

"Did you hear that? Your breakfast is ready." Sarah pulled the baby away from her and held her in front of her face. "Be a good girl and eat it all up, ok?" She brought Karol in for a small kiss and then stood with her and placed her into the baby chair at the end of the table.

Jim smiled at this daughter and passed the food mixture to Sarah. "You should be the one to do this," he told her with a smile.

"Thank you," she said sincerely. She buttoned her, or rather Jim's, shirt back up, sat and took the bowl from him.

Jim picked up the bib from the table and fixed it around Karol's neck.

Sarah took a breath and looked at Jim as he sat too. "Here goes," she stated then began to put some of the food mixture on the spoon. "Open up for mommy," she said softly and moved the spoon towards Karol.

Karol stared at the spoon and tried to reach for it before Sarah pulled it away again.

Jim smiled and reached to the counter for the spare spoon to give to Karol. "Do you want to play with the spoon?" he asked the baby and held it near her.

Karol reached for the spoon and looked at it carefully.

Sarah moved the food spoon towards Karol and caught her attention with it. Sarah put it against her lips and waited for an opportunity to slip it inside her mouth. "Open wide," she requested. Karol opened her mouth a little and Sarah put the spoon inside, angling it to get the food off the spoon.

Most of the food dribbled out of Karol's mouth but instead of fussing she laughed.

Sarah laughed too. "Was that yummy?" she asked as she used her thumb to wipe away the excess on her chin. "Shall we try another one?" She put more mixture onto the spoon and offered it to Karol.

Karol immediately opened her mouth to the spoon and laughed again as it entered her mouth.

"I think she likes it," Jim surmised.

Sarah smiled. "I think she takes after her daddy; she dislikes my cooking already."

"I made it exactly the same way you did yesterday," he offered up just in case she was feeling self-conscious about why Karol enjoyed the food much more today than yesterday. "Besides, your cooking is delicious when you use enough salt," he added with a laugh.

Sarah laughed a little with him and then continued to feed Karol with the mixture until Jim told her she'd probably had enough. She removed Karol's bib and brought her to her shoulder for burping. "You are such a good little girl," Sarah encouraged her as she stroked her back.

"Now we've taken care of her, we should take care of you," Jim told her.

Sarah nodded. She held Karol tighter and kissed her head. Her lips made contact with Karol's red hair and she smiled. "Mommy has to go to the doctor today," she cooed. "But it'll be all alright if Karol and Daddy come, too. So let's get us all ready to go." She stood and carried Karol to the door.

"Jim thinks Sarah talking in third person is very cute," Jim smirked as she walked by him.


	23. The Lock

"Sheriff Raynor, it's been a long time since you've come to an appointment with Mrs Raynor," the doctor said warmly.

He could tell the doctor was probing for more information but Jim smiled. "Sarah needed me today," he answered and took Sarah's hand in his.

"I see," the doctor said as he smiled at their joined hands but he remembered just two days ago giving Sarah the morning after pill and providing her with a better, longer term birth control plan.

Sarah didn't say anything as she heard the doctor's thoughts and hoped he'd cut to the chase.

"So what brings you here, Mrs Raynor?" he asked somewhat intrigued.

She looked at Jim for a moment hoping he was ready to back her up if she couldn't explain it well. "We erm... we think we found some hair growing beneath one of my tendrils," she said slowly.

The doctor sat up in his chair intrigued. "Do you mind if I have a look?"

She shook her head.

The doctor got up and went around the table.

Sarah pulled her dreadlocks back to expose the spot. She took a breath and waited for the doctor to look it over.

Jim looked on carefully. He trusted this doctor more than most, but he was still very wary of people using or betraying Sarah.

The doctor looked closely at her head. "The tendril looks damaged," the doctor surveyed. "What happened?"

"I don't know. I don't remember doing anything to it," she told him truthfully.

"Have you noticed any other patches of regrowth on your body? Arm pits? Pubic hair?"

Sarah looked at Jim and smirked. She knew he preferred a landing strip for his runs. "Nothing," she answered.

The doctor looked at Sarah's face. "Hhmmm. The hair is red but your eyebrows are brown. What colour was your hair when you were born?"

"Red," both her and Jim answered in unison.

She looked at Jim and smiled.

"A beautiful red," Jim added.

"Well, I'd like to run some tests," the doctor said. "We can do them today but they may take a few hours."

"What type of tests?" Jim asked wondering what procedures he had planned.

"Blood tests, some imaging workups, the usual tests I'm sure Mrs Raynor is used to by now," he explained with a smile.

Sarah didn't smile. Just when she thought she had gotten over being a test subject... "Let's do it," she answered coldly.

Jim looked at her and smiled to encourage her. "Are you sure?"

She looked back at him and nodded. "I have to find out what's going on," she answered. "You don't have to stay. You're probably busy at the office, Sheriff Raynor," she added with a smile.

"I'm staying," he told her. "We both are," he glanced at Karol in her pram and then back to Sarah.

"Thank you," she said warmly.

Sarah spent the next part of the morning being poked, prodded and scanned. She was sat on a bed in a small waiting room in a white gown and was hoping the tests would be over soon. She looked across at Jim who had dozed off on a chair against the wall with Karol beside him in her pram. Karol had always been good when it came to her daytime naps - now Sarah realised where Karol got that skill from. Her train of thought was broken as she heard the door begin to open.

The doctor pushed the door open and poked his head in. "Mrs Raynor," he said politely. "If you are ready, I'd like to talk to you about the results."

She nodded and jumped down from the bed. She walked over to Jim and shook his arm gently, "Jim, wake up."

He opened his eyes and smiled as he saw her face.

"We have to go and talk with the doctor," she informed him.

He nodded. "Sorry 'bout falling asleep," he told her as he stood.

"Don't worry," she told him as she put her hands on Karol's pram and pushed it out of the room. Jim followed.

The doctor led them back to his office and told them to sit at his desk. "We have the preliminary results back," the doctor began.

Sarah sat up in her chair slightly. "What did you find out?"

The doctor turned the screen on his desk to face them both. He pulled up an image they'd taken of her skull and the tendrils. "If you look here," he said as he used a small pointer to point at the screen, "you can see your tendrils have lines running down the centre of them."

She nodded to let him know she saw it.

The doctor pressed something on his desk and the screen zoomed into one of the tendrils. "Each of those lines are actually groups of hairs."

She looked intently at the screen as she could make out wisps of hair contained in the tendril. "How?" she asked. She'd been through enough tests to know the hair hadn't been there before.

"I can't say for certain," he answered. "It might be that your scalp required time to regenerate your hair follicles following your infestation. Or it could have been the increase in hormones during your pregnancy stimulating regrowth."

"What happens now?" she asked not wanting to get her hopes up.

The doctor paused for a moment. "I'd like to cut one of the tendrils off to expose the hair beneath it."

"Ok," Sarah agreed without thinking about it.

"We can do it now if you're ready," the doctor said kindly. "It'll be a quick procedure and you'll be able to go home after it."

"I'm ready," she said quickly.

"We'll take you to a treatment room and I'll do it there," he said kindly.

"Jim, can you take Karol someplace else?" she asked Jim as she stood.

Jim realised she didn't want them around while someone cut into her head. "Ok," he told her. He stood and took her hand in his. He gently squeezed it to reassure her. "Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"

She shook her head. "Just take care of Karol for me," she smiled.

He nodded and smiled at her.

She gazed at Jim for a moment and then left the room with the doctor.

Jim returned to the small waiting room with Karol and waited for Sarah to return. He only realised he'd dozed off again and when he heard Sarah close the room of the waiting room. "How did it go?" he asked her sleepily.

She shrugged and walked across the room towards the small pile of her clothes on the bed.

"Can I see?" he asked as he stood.

"It's bandaged up," she said dully. "But," a small smile pulled at her lips, "there is a lock of hair."

Jim smiled. He walked towards her and she turned slightly to allow him access to the spot. He immediately saw the bandage but flowing out from a gap in the bandage was a lock of red hair almost as long as the tendril had been. He wanted to stroke it - it had been about ten years since he'd stroked her hair; it had been a blanket of red over them as she had laid in his arms the first time they made love.

"The doctor says I have to be careful not to catch it on anything," she added. "But, you can touch it."

He let his fingers gently take the hair in his fingers and he gently stroked it. "It feels just like I remember it."

She ignored his words. She didn't want to get her hopes up and she didn't want to encourage him either. "The doctor told me I have to let it heal. In two weeks I have to come back and we'll talk about whether we can remove the other tendrils or not."

"Ok," he told her sensing her pessimism. He removed his hand from her hair and took a step to face her. "Whatever happens, it'll be alright," he smiled at her. He put a hand on her face. "You are so beautiful. Inside and out."

She smiled and leant forward to kiss him gently. She opened her mouth to tell him how much she loved him but was interrupted by Karol's wails. She smiled at Jim and pulled away from him reluctantly to tend to their daughter.

Jim smiled lovingly at her and followed her with his eyes across the room.

"Awww, why is mommy's darling little girl crying?" she cooed as she picked the baby up. She bounced her gently and rubbed her back.

"Maybe we should take her home," Jim suggested.

Sarah looked at him and nodded. "Does Karol want to go home?" she asked as she settled the child. She bounced Karol gently as she waited for her cries to subside. "Let mommy get dressed and we'll take you home," she said softly as she walked towards Jim.

Jim reached out his arms for her and took the child from Sarah and waited for her to change before they left.


End file.
